I am not as experience as some on this board with crane removals, but I do one or two a month and at times a lot more then that. I did a huge dead walnut tree on a hillside a while back. It was crunchy dead with compromised(pulpy) roots, and I rode a lot of the picks down, not trusting the tree. I cradled some and stead on them while attached to the ball with my climbing line, and on the more vertical ones, I used a long choker setting it lower then I normally would so it would be on sound wood, then used a short sling with a carabiner, up near the top of the pick, placeing the sling on the branch and then snapping the biner on the choker cable to stablelize it(it was a knuckleboom crane) some, make the cut, let him pick it up, then unhook and follow it, hanging off my climbing line the piece above me. when I was over level flat ground I would lowing my self first to the ground. I only did it on the end pieces, (it didn't feel real safe) I did stay tied in on a few tell the piece was lifted off, then undoing my climbing line off the ball and staying with the tree. after feeling secure it wasn't going to collapse.
The tree didn't bend, but had a creepy wobbleing thing going on. I would of gladly like to have had an other crane.
Right or wrong riding the pick down I know the important thing is to make sure the piece doesn't flip on you or your screwed. It seemed only a little safer then staying in the tree riding those picks down to me, but on those crispy skinny end pieces it was the only way I could of justified the risk