Yes, it's location now isn't it? "Land" anywhere except on the concrete or cv deck and it's a ditch. I can understand the reasons why it is the way it is, but there is merit in the argument of putting the plane down anywhere within the perimeter of the airfield and count it as a "safe landing"...trying to belly land a plane that has no landing gear is tough to do...let alone doing it with pieces of wing or stabilizers missing...add a pilot wound and you're really working for it...if you happen to miss the concrete but still put the plane down without blowing it up, it should count for something besides a ditch.
Were it in real life, the odds of a shot-up plane landing anywhere else from the tarmac would be severely damaged and more than likely need to be scrapped. It is in no way a "successful landing", and the greatest reward you can expect is that you survived it.
It already counts as something - you're not MIA=KIA=1 death. It counts as a 'ditch' and that's about as good as any 'reward' people deserve.
Otherwise, geez, if people can just crash-land plane anywhere within the field and still land the kills, why the fek would people ever want to try and land safely? You can mow through people in a friggin LALA, and speed yourway to your airfield with angry people behind you, ditch ASAP anywhere on the field and .ef just before enemy fire starts connecting and still be able to get all them kills. That's about the lamest abuse one can think of if we start counting 'ditches within field' as 'safe landings.'
Landings and takeoffs are a vital part of what makes a good pilot, even in simplified environment like in AH, and the ability to counter the effects of your battle damage and safely put it down on the runway counts as something.
