However, the ejection knocked the F-106 out of the spin and it took off towards the horizon. Major Jim Lowe, who had been following Foust in one of the other two Darts and giving him suggestions, had to shout out: "Gary, you better get back in it!"
[/quote]

See, the good planes fly and land just fine without the pilot along at all... [/quote]

There's more to this than meets the eye.. In Navy ACM, or Aerial Combat Maneuvering during the F8 days, two practices were taught.. zero G maneuvering and times where letting go of the controls to totally unload the wings is the appropriate procedure..

In flat spins, let go of the controls to totally unload the wings and power up to let forward speed build, and planes will fly themselves out of the spin.. The other end of the extreme is a G load induced wing stall, not a good thing to happen.

This is one subset of zero G maneuvering, as defined by what a plane does/handles when in a zero G arc trajectory or in outright free fall... With zero G loading on the wings, many planes with as low as 5 knots of forward indicated speed still have attitude control..

Watching a Cobra head maneuver is an interesting demonstration, and as was found an excellent way to shake a plane on your tail and end up on the attack on their tail.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uTfZLQdkHo