They probabbly DID think along those lines.
But it was more as case of, they just had no idea, and chose to ignore anyone else who advised them otherwise. The Parafil / Phillystran lines should have been correctly 'pottedn' with resin compound, in a. warm room for hours, but I know that the few that were tried at all were simply TIED in knots.
What a sheer and utter waste. Crass stupidity.

The Antenna cable did well to stay hooked onto the ship for as long s it did. All the strain was being taken by the insulators at the base.