Hey there Mr. Engineer.
Being thorough, intelligent, and careful are excellent traits for doing tree work. But you know that it really doesn't mean you can study hard, prepare intensively, and then do a good job on something that you haven't ever done before. Now, I looked at the pictures of the tree, it doesn't look too huge, though very dead (the dryness of the wood has a huge impact on it's working properties), and you could very well take down the tree without hurting yourself seriously, or possibly at all. But really, does that mean that you should try? So much of what makes one adept at something like this is figuring out all of the subtleties involved, all the different properties of different species of wood at different stages of life or death, the reaction when weight is falling off of a tree you are tied to, or the reaction when the tree catches a falling weight, the importance of accurate cutting, the little safety checks that become so automatic, understanding the ropes, knots, and I don't need to go on. I'll only say that while you probably can do it, it would probably be much safer and more fulfilling if you can find someone knowledgeable (sometimes hard enough) to help you out. But if your ultimate interest is recreational tree climbing, why bother doing removals, it's really totally different.
