Sure, but if you’ve ever been around high tension mental cables before you’ll realize you need a huge pair of balls to cut those. It’s not safety protocols, it’s fear that it might cut you in half.
I had the same question. Intuitively, I don’t think so, but that’s based on nothing but simulating it in my head. In reality you might risk the tower collapsing on you if you cut too many.
These towers often have several sets of tension cables at various heights, so you could cut the outermost/tallest set, drop the top-third of the tower, and work your way down. Still dangerous, but it's not always "bring all 500' down at once".
That's how I would do it without remote cutters, a small shaped charge, or thermite. Fall direction will be completely out of control, so it would be worth being close to the tower to reach a safe area.
I don't see how you would have less control by backing off tensioners vs. destructive approach. You don't have to release all guys at once in either case.
