You want to get your name in lights?
Then take enough fuel. Fly in a way to make it home, undamaged. Get OUT of the fight when you can no longer CONTINUE fighting (too many quake-playing spittards that buzz around until they're out of gas then glide after that point, spraying at everything they see).
The point of having landings ONLY count when you're on the runway was specifically decided by HTC to make it WORTH landing. If you can have a safe landing anywhere, if you can get "supplies" to a downed plane anywhere, then landing itself has no purpose and no meaning.
I quite like feeling like I *earned* my landings, thank you very much. Even if I have no kills, but am shot to hell, 1 wing gone, no oil, missing an elevator or flaps, I take quite a lot of joy in setting a plane down and ending flight safely on the runway.
"no thank you" to plane supplies/repairs.
