Originally Posted by Mr Optimistic;
From what I have read elsewhere on this thread the chance of significant structural damage following a stall are high.
The prototypes of any new airplane type do hundreds of stalls. Gentle stalls at 1 kt/sec; accelerated stalls at 2 - 3 kt/sec, turning flight stalls, power-on stalls, stalls with simulated and natural ice shapes on wings and tailplane, etc. etc., all well beyond the point of maximum lift and often into heavy buffet. There is some concern that, if you do hundreds of them on the same test-airplane, the fatigue life of the structure may be affected.
EDIT:: Stalls are demonstrated from various altitudes, if I remember correctly, from 5000 ft upwards. I heard the BBC person say that a stall is catastrophic, which is somewhat exaggerated. The colonel was clearly hired to demonstrate just that, and made an exciting show of it.
HN39