Originally Posted by
cats_five
A aerotow cable break is very unusual. There are no practise breaks unlike with winch launch, and it is very rare that the aerotow rope or weak link breaks. But I agree the angle of view might have made it look like something was happening that didn't really happen.
I wonder what height the OP thought the aircraft in question were at?
Actually Cats_five, we do practice aerotow launch failures as rope and and weak links can and do break, tugs can have engine failures, etc and so we like to make sure our students are prepared for such eventualities!.