Pace,
A well balanced view which I think is fair in the circumstances. It is far too easy to leap to conclusions based on snippets of hearsay information. The Biggle story was perhaps the best way to explain to laymen (journalists).
All said and done, regardless of how and why he ended up making a forced landing he did walk away unscathed with no loss of life or damage to property. For this he must receive some credit. We will never know whether this was an ill judged mistake - that worked out well. Or a well reasoned and skilful approach into a tree where the pilot quickly assessed all the risks before using his expert handling skill to bring the aircraft to rest.
If you are ever going to hit a tree it is better to do so in the canopy then atthe base - Some years ago, I had the misfortune to witness a performance sports car disintegrate on colliding with tree. There was nothing recognisable after the accident and the tree - largely unscathed is still there! The gretest risk is perhaps that having landed 40ft up the aircraft then slips out of the tree - its not the fall that kills you but the sudden stop at the bottom. Ouch.
As the pilots wife explianed " my husband is an adveturer - planes, cars and motorbikes. He loves them all...." and no doubt his insurance premiums have just gone up.
We need characters like this to remind the rest of us how to do things properly - otherwise nobody would believe that it mattered.