Tony, I sure don't miss that stuff.
Elevators are remarkable engineering feats. In 31 years of elevator rescues I never saw one elevator crash to the ground. They all stopped quickly, and that's even the old ones that were for buildings 4 stories and less. It seemed like the worst scenario we usually had was when an elevator stopped between floors. Somebody would rappel or ladder down, and just pull the people out of the elevator car top hatch. That or just wait for the Otis guy to show up.
Maybe too many Bruce Willis movies, but elevators are a lot safer in emergencies than many people think.
