When considering how to crash, my first bit of advice is don’t do it. Since the reality of any flight is that things can go wrong, that isn’t particularly helpful, I know. What can go wrong? Your crankshaft can break, your fuel lines can clog or, if you are a damn fool, you can run out of gas. The point is, someday your engine may stop working for reasons beyond your immediate control and your next option is an off-field landing, or worse. If you’re lucky, you will be mid-field downwind at your home airport and it will work just like the last time you practiced engine-out procedures—you do still practice those, right?
If you are less fortunate, you will have to pick a field or road that may damage the aircraft a bit but mostly will end with a very awkward phone call. At general aviation speeds, making contact with unobstructed terrain at a shallow angle of impact should be eminently survivable. Then there is the outcome none of us wants to experience, where there is no clear landing site—no matter what you do, you are going to hit something. It just isn’t your day.
