Fate of pilot unclear, though this report says he ejected.http://www.msnbc.com/news/864474.asp?0cv=CB10bt

I heard the pilot was sent to a hospital complaining of back pain.

>I heard the pilot was sent to a hospital complaining of back >pain. No kidding, those ejection seats pull many Gs on you, and some people even are shorter after an ejection-their spinal cord has been compressed due to the forces. :-eek

At least he is lucky he had an ejection seat. The early U-2's we had in our squadron (1957-1958)didn't have ejection seats. They were installed after our squadron commander ( Col. Jack Nole) bailed out of a U bird coming apart at over 70000ft in south Texas. He held the record for high altitude bailouts but couldn't claim it at the time because the project was top secret. He later wrote of his expierence in Readers Digest after the project was declasified. I have an autographed copy of that article.Ed Weber a.k.a tallpilot