Looking at it again, I guess he had the option of pulling the power and
veering left before he got the crowd, even if it meant hitting trees on
the other side or ground looping the plane. But once he was comitted to
flying over them or hitting them, it was never going to end well. I
guess he might have enough room to stay in ground effect while stay
above the crowd, but it would have taken some balls to try it with all
those people down there.