50+ years ago, when Aberdeen Gliding Club operated at Aberdeen Airport, I saw a solo pilot allow enough crosswind drift to drop the cable over a Tiger Moth towing a glider off the main runway. It caught round the propellor.The teenage winch operator had no guillotine - just an axe. He hacked through the cable as it tightened. The ex-Spitfire pilot released the glider, and successfully landed, with the cut winch cable attached to the prop. There were no injuries. I think that cable was the stranded stuff we used before pianowire. Instructors didn't need to do simulated cable breaks - they were too common.