("Trentus" wrote)
OK, this is going to sound really silly, but I'm not a pilot,
If planes glide so well, then how come they crash?
It would seem reasonable, that if they glide, and they have an engine
failure etc. that they'd glide them in, not leave smoking craters like the
news tends to show.
Am I missing something here?

From what I gather, one of the main reasons for some of these smoking hole
crashes is a malfunctioning switch, in the pilot's head, that says "Must
save this
airplane."

That switch needs to be set to, "Where should I put this (insurance
company's) plane down to safely dissipate the most energy, before those
forces get to us people?"

Runways, fields, roads, golf courses, high school soccer field, etc.

The question of coming down ....."is moot." You are coming down - now!

This is when the mental switch needs to be thrown from, "save the plane" to
"put it down safely - the heck with the plane."

The other big problem is "Low and Slow."

Low because you have little time to react. Slow - think your motorcycle
going slow and not being able to put your foot down. First you wobble then
you fall to the pavement.

--
Montblack
"Styled by the laws of nature.............Concorde"