It happened to the Ninja- he stayed tied in whilst cutting the 'gob' because the top had a hard lean so ease of work positioning was there. He forgot to do the untying part. I was on the ropes. Neither of us saw what was to be the problem. We weren't in any rush, hourly job. As he started cutting I finally saw it and held the bull line tight so top wouldn't run. He, being the ninja, held on and was fine.
It happened to a buddy years ago, he looked up as the top was starting to go and saw his rope up there and his only thought was oh shit this is going to hurt. Well he was able to somehow slack his hitch so the top didn't pull him outta the tree. Bullet dodged.