Freak Accident with power tools

[15w40]

I have to share this experience I had while building my house. I am adding a second floor bathroom to the house, doing all the work myself. One of the jobs was to add a plumbing vent for the new bathroom. This job meant that I had to get on the roof and cut a hole near the edge of the roof for the PVC vent pipe. After buying a DeWalt joist & stud drill and a 4 5/8 hole saw I was ready for anything. This drill has a two-speed transmission and in the low speed it has plenty of torque. After drilling a small hole from the inside to mark the location, I climbed the ladder to the roof dragging an extension cord. The spot was too far from the edge of the roof so I tied off the extension cord, climbed on the roof and lined up the drill bit in the pilot hole. Everything was wonderful until the bit jammed in the hole and threw me off balance. I could not let go of the drill because of the prospect of falling to the brick patio 30 feet below, so I hung on. I probably made four laps before the cord wound up on the drill bit and disconnected from the extension cord. The drill, and me, slowly coasted to a stop. I didn’t have the presence of mind to let go of the switch because that would mean relaxing my grip. All turned out well in the end with the hole cut in the roof, but my shorts will never be the same.