[fwdude]

Point is that landings and takeoffs usually entail vectors of travel that are oblique to the ground, not a perpendicular impact against which there is little or no opportunity to recover.

[justlurking]

Point is that landings and takeoffs usually entail vectors of travel that are oblique to the ground, not a perpendicular impact against which there is little or no opportunity to recover.

Airplanes rarely suffer a catastrophic structural failure and lose a wing or a control service and auger into the ground.

Even a complete loss of power at altitude is recoverable:

Gimli Glider