Patent ID: 8893800

Claim:
A method of landing items at a well location, comprising the steps of: a) positioning a drilling rig above a well location, the drilling rig having a landing string that is comprised of a number of joints of drill pipe, and a holder that holds a joint of drill pipe in the landing string for supporting the landing string; b) attaching an item to the lower end of the landing string and lowering the landing string such that it spans the distance between the drilling rig and the well location; c) wherein the holder, and the joint of drill pipe that is held by the holder, are configured to support the tensile load of the landing string with correspondingly shaped shoulders that engage when the holder holds the joint of drill pipe, and wherein the holder has an open top allowing a new joint of drill pipe to be attached to the joint of drill pipe being held by the holder when supporting the landing string; d) wherein the shoulder of a plurality of the joints of drill pipe have an angle of taper between about 45 and about 65 degrees.