I remember reading many years ago a news article of a fixed-wing rescue proposal whereby a tether was lowered from out of the back of a circling aircraft such as a C130 flown in such a radius and height that eventually the end of the line became stationary. I can't find anything on the interweb about it though and it'd surely be a wild ride back up! Does anyone know or remember anything of this idea
edit: here's an article in Popular Mechanics describing the idea -
https://www.popularmechanics.com/mil...6/bucket-drop/