I was attacked in town at least 10 times on my first character , and I've seen about a half dozens giants and bandits get picked up and thrown mid-flight .

I've seen it happen a couple times.
Nothing makes me lay a brick like a poor individual getting carried away in a Dragon's mighty talons!
Many girlish screams were heard that day. Sadly-.. They were all mine.

I've seen it a few times. Whether these were random or scripted, I couldn't say. I find new things ALL of the time, and I'm into my fourth character. Just today, for instance, I cam across a farmer leading a cow as an offering to nearby giants. He was quite talkative about what he was doing as well, even down to explaining why the cow was bald/painted. I hung around and watched the whole deal transpire. While some might see it as anti-climactic, from my hidden position, watching the world unfold OUTSIDE OF MY CHARACTER'S PLACE IN IT was just cool.

Now if I could just find that gigantic mudcrab exoskeleton again.

I usually just get the bite finisher. Some say its when the dragon is flying overhead while you health is low. That seems the more reasonable cause. But since you're a moderator, I'll take your word for it.

The Op`s talking about the Dragon taking someone up in the air and dropping them, Lord Of The Rings Style. The biting them on the ground is normal.

Ha, I always find it funny and scary when trying to get to a Dragon and I hear someone screaming then seeing him being tossed across a farmhouse!

That is what I meant. Most dragon attacks are Shouts either on the ground or from the air, but the Melee attack is what gives the Finishing move. Yes, your right that flying makes more sense. But, I do remember one time it was on the ground and my character was flying through the air after getting a melee hit from a dragon. It could have been from a regular hit or ice blast, like some sword strikes do. I had quickly loaded my save when I saw it happen to me.

So, perhaps air grabs are the most common way to get chomped and spit out, then on ground snatches are the rarest.

Though I agree that 6 encounters is statistically irrelevant, I had 14 Dragons up until my 80th hour or so, most of which were from roosts, and all of which were encountered in the first half of that playtime. Unless you advance the main storyline, it appears that you'll run out of spawns eventually. Then again, I never fast travel, so that may be a factor.

Exit the game, load up a save and Fast Travel to 3 or 4 locations.

Then look up. Just don't fast travel to a city.....

oh me and some friends in chat talked about this, and so far it's only seen in scripted events.

I just saw a dragon pick up the mill worker at Anga's mill, shake him around and drop him. This was with the 1.4 patch in, so maybe they fixed it.

I've seen it happen before. It's pretty rare, though. Usually happens to guards.

That's different; it's just a dragon being on the ground, taking an npc (or you) in his mouth, shaking it and throwing it away. I've seen it a million times, had it happen over and over with my first fight with an elder dragon too. Bastard just loved his finishing moves.

The finishing move from the air, where a dragon actually picks someone up with his claws and tosses him away, hasn't happened during my gameplay yet. Although I tried to make a frost dragon do it by standing on the highest point of a fort, keeping my health steady on a low point (to where I even heard my heart beat continually), healing the dragon to full health again and yadda yadda. The frost dragon kept on flying and swooping over my head, spewing frost magic and all, but was never willing to drag me off my feet.

I don't think Dragons will ever take the player off from the ground. Would probably be far too frustrating.