Ouch...!
 

Some interesting video clips...

The first is of a SAAB Grippen landing. Anyone know if the pilot got out ok?

http://www.big-boys.com/articles/subparlanding.html

I'll let this one explain itself!

http://www.big-boys.com/articles/doublemal.html

Thermals? What thermals?

http://www.big-boys.com/articles/hangglidefall.html

I think he did. That was one of the early prototypes.

Re the Gripen pilot -he did, and then went on to eject from another over Stockholm during an air display due to an FCS failure.

sw

The middle one strikes an amazing regularity between "!!!!" and "****" Oddly he just groans after impact.

Looks like he dumped his reserve into his main, though I've seen that make a biplane and the guy land ok.

My anally retentive ISP suspects the videos will show porn and won't let me open them, but I'm guessing the Grippen is the one that landed upside down. If it is, he did indeed get out of it ok and would have been killed if he'd ejected. The Grippen was the first Swedish aircraft to have Martin Baker seats with a centre-pull bottom handle instead of US style arm pulls. I'm told he instinctively grabbed the arms and therefore was still in the aircraft when it crashed. I only know this because we were playing in the Viggen sim shortly afterwards and I lost it in a particularly stupid race from wheels off to back on the ground. When I went to eject I grabbed for the non-existent centre handle. Salutary lesson as I was due to fly in a real Viggen a couple of days later.

Well it was upside down momentarily, and I might add, repeatedly.