I'll play devil's advocate here:
He claimed that he had tried a flip, and within four seconds lost his orientation, and at some point ended up at 22,000 feet.
I don't know for sure, but it could have gone like this:
At 8,000 feet and bored->Throttled up->Tried a flip for four seconds->Lost orientation->Climbed to 22,000 feet->Landed
-Penguin