On Wednesday, May 20, 2020 at 2:57:36 PM UTC-7, wrote:
I'm neither a software nor mechanical engineer, but I think the relationship between force and deflection might be linear, not exponential


On Wednesday, 20 May 2020 19:49:22 UTC+1, wrote:
Bungie isn't really much a of a shock absorber, the exponential nature of the spring force isn't the best here. Combine that (or a spring) with an actual shock absorber and autorelease when the shock is compressed enough, you can set the limit of stolen energy via the tow-rope to pretty much anything within a certain time.

As a software engineer who's done plenty of embedded stuff also, I would much prefer an analog solution.

I know you can upset a towplane w/o breaking the rope or weak link because it has happened. The towplane's elevator may be able to generate 10-15% of its all-up weight, or 250-300 lb, and it is probably already using half of that in normal flight. And even if the rope or weak link breaks that does not guarantee that the towplane can recover. The rope did break in the 1999 towplane upset accident at Ephrata, WA.

Tom