If you hang out with pilots, I'm sure you've heard them fantasize about this as a good way to die. It doesn't happen much in real life, although there are a few incidents that have been in the news that were clearly suicides.

It's not really plausible that he misjudged the altitude. His altitude for that maneuver was about 2000 feet lower than it should have been. I've also flown a T-34 (my dad owned one on Orcas Island... I kind of wonder if Bill bought his from Dad) and did some aerobatics around Orcas. We were at much higher altitude.