handicapped. An unconscious desire to delay the dreaded  moment may lead to such errors as a delay in the selection  of the most suitable landing area within reach and indecision  in general. Desperate attempts to correct whatever went  wrong at the expense of aircraft control fall into the same  category. The pilot who has been conditioned during training to  expect to find a relatively safe landing area whenever the  flight instructor closes the throttle for a simulated forced  landing may ignore all basic rules of airmanship to avoid a  touchdown in terrain where aircraft damage is unavoidable.  Typical consequences are making a 180° turn back to the  runway when available altitude is insufficient, stretching the  glide without regard for minimum control speed in order to  reach a more appealing field, or accepting an approach and  touchdown situation that leaves no margin for error. The  desire to save the aircraft, regardless of the risks involved,  may be influenced by two other factors: the pilot’s fi nancial  stake in the aircraft and the certainty that an undamaged  aircraft implies no bodily harm. There are times, however,  when a pilot should be more interested in sacrifi cing the  aircraft so that the occupants can safely walk away from it. Fear is a vital part of the self-preservation mechanism.  However, when fear leads to panic, we invite that which we  want most to avoid. The survival records favor pilots who  maintain their composure and know how to apply the general  concepts and procedures that have been developed through  the years. The success of an emergency landing is as much  a matter of the mind as of skills. A pilot who is faced with an emergency landing in terrain  that makes extensive aircraft damage inevitable should  keep in mind that the avoidance of crash injuries is largely  a matter of:  The advantage of sacrificing dispensable structure is  demonstrated daily on the highways. A head-on car impact  against a tree at 20 miles per hour (mph) is less hazardous for  a properly restrained driver than a similar impact against the  driver’s door. Statistics indicate that the extent of crushable  structure between the occupants and the principal point of  impact on the aircraft has a direct bearing on the severity of  the transmitted crash forces and, therefore, on survivability.  Compared to an airplane, the WSC aircraft has less structure  to absorb the impact and is moving slower, but the same  principles apply. Avoiding forcible contact with the front tube, cowling,  dashboard, or outside structure is a matter of seat and body  security with the use of seatbelts. Unless the occupant  decelerates at the same rate as the surrounding structure, no  benefit is realized from its relative intactness. The occupant  is brought to a stop violently in the form of a secondary  collision. Dispensable aircraft structure is not the only available energy- absorbing medium in an emergency situation. Vegetation,  trees, and even manmade structures may be used for this  purpose. Cultivated fields with dense crops, such as mature  corn and grain, are almost as effective in bringing an aircraft  to a stop with repairable damage as an emergency arresting  device on a runway.  [Figure 13-2]  Brush and small trees  provide considerable cushioning and braking effect without  destroying the aircraft. When dealing with natural and man- made obstacles with greater strength than the dispensable  aircraft structure, the pilot must plan the touchdown in such  a manner that only nonessential structure is “used up” in the  principal slowing down process. It should be noted that examples presented here are not to  Figure 13-2. Using vegetation to absorb energy. 13-4  Basic Safety Concepts 1. Keeping vital structure (flight deck where the pilot  and passenger are seated) relatively intact by using  dispensable structure, such as wings, landing gear, and  carriage bottom to absorb the violence of the stopping  process before it affects the occupants.  2.  Avoiding forward wing movement relative to the  carriage, allowing the mast to rotate into the fl ight deck  occupants, or the front tube to compress and break,  providing structure to impale/stab the occupants.