BBC News - Abergavenny plane crash: Three survive A40 incident
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Glad everyone came out okay, looks like the plane burned completely.
Forced GA landings are interesting. On one hand you can’t judge the PIC’s decisions as you weren’t there, on the other hand evaluating the chain of events is important.
So having said that and acknowledging that I’m not qualified, it’s interesting to read about forced landings on highways.
I know there may not be a lot of time to make the decision etc. but I wonder if the lure of a paved straight surface can lead to underestimating the other risks - power lines, risking the lives of other road users etc. The likelihood of putting the prop through some kid in the backseat of a car is a lot smaller if you go for an agricultural field. Need to have one handy first, of course.
From the article:
It is the second time in three years in which a light aircraft crashed on the same stretch of road.
OK, that is a bit amazing. Think I may want to avoid that bit of road…if I ever get back to the UK, that is. 
Pavement won’t break your spine. The field that looks quite landable at a thousand feet can be a bog or hilly mess dissected with a grass-covered ditch at 200 feet. By then its too late. And, if you survive the landing in the field, what happens if no one sees you land and you happen to flip? I’ve known of several pilots who survived the landing uninjured but suffocated under their own weight. I watched a buddy flip over the departure end of a grass strip after an engine failure. There is no way he would have gotten out without us. IL2 makes it look so easy.
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Lots of terrain around there too, so maybe options were limited, plus everything that Eric said. One of the reasons I never cancel IFR going into an uncontrolled airport at night (not that I do that much these days).
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