You might also be interested in the story of UA 232. They lost all controls and somehow used engine thrust to keep the plane airborne. They called the Maintenance department for advice and were basically asked where they were going to crash. My grandparents were standing on their porch waiting for the doomed airliner to fly over their house. Instead, the crew wrenched it around the city to save lives on the ground when they inevitably went down. ATC offered to let them crash land on the highway, but the flight crew insisted on crashing at SUX. By the time the plane came into view at the airport, ATC had already declared a crash. Just about every fire apparatus in Woodbury County was sitting on an abandoned runway, waiting for the inevitable. Then they realized that the plane was lined up on the same old runway, which resulted in a panicked move of a whole lot of trucks. Knowing he was about to crash somewhere (maybe near a runway, maybe not) Captain Haynes exemplified grace under fire, as shown in this exchange.

ATC: United 232 Heavy, Roger, Sir. Wind 010 at 11. You are cleared to land on any runway. Al Haynes : [chuckles] You want to be particular in making a runway? [staff at the control tower laugh nervously]