I can certainly co-miserate(sp) with you on those kinds of over powered flight loses. I've done similar out of sight flights on C and D powered models where we heard the pop at ejection but never saw a chute or streamer, and the models were never to be seen again. More recently I've been doing this with Micro models as well which has been even more distressing as everyone on the field KNOWS it couldn't have gone all that high. I've tried to explain to other modelers that Out of sight, is out of sight; be it 300, 3000 or 30,000feet, Once its gone it's generally not coming back unless someone stumbles over your model while out looking for another.
I think the only reason we even discuss such minor part influence has more to do with air stream flow management or searching for that elusive optium mass, throw weight, max coast time or whatever we want to call it then anything else. Makes us feel good thinking we're actually doing something positive to aid in the performance of our flying models.