re: #198 austin_blue

When I was working in the oil industry as a wellhead geologist, I would occasionally work drillings rigs on land (most of my work was offshore, which was very much my preference for numerous reasons).

On a land rig, there was a line that ran from the stack fingers near the top of the derrick (where you would stack 90’ sections of drill pipe when you needed to change a drill bit) that ran some 200 odd feet away from the rig. It was called the Geronimo line.

If there was a big kick or a blowout when you were tripping pipe to change out a bit, the Derrickman could put his escape wheel on the line and Squee!! to safety unless the gas bubble ignited and cooked him to a cinder before he was clear of all hell breaking loose.

I met one guy who had used it and lived. His back looked like Jamie Frazier’s.

In the Apollo era, NASA launch pads had a giant version of that. The cable hung in a catenary arc, so the upslope at the end decelerated the users.