Whether it would be safer to crash on land or water would depend on the choices available. If the misfortune happens near land and water, I would crash land on a dry, flat and hard surface. If my choice is only the river amidst the high-rise buildings, I would opt for ditching.

Statistically and technically, it is generally considered worse to "crash" or ditch on water than to make an emergency landing on land. While the "Miracle on the Hudson" was a famous success, most water landings (ditchings) are extremely dangerous because water is not a flat, forgiving surface at high speeds; it can act like concrete, and catching a wing or the fuselage at an angle often leads to the aircraft breaking apart. Furthermore, once a plane is successfully in the water, the survival challenges escalate immediately. Passengers must evacuate a sinking, dark, and potentially freezing vessel, often while dealing with injuries. On land, pilots can often utilize flat fields, highways, or even golf courses, which provide a more stable environment for rescue teams to reach the site quickly. In water, the risk of drowning, hypothermia, and the difficulty of locating survivors in open swells significantly lower the long-term survival rate compared to land-based forced landings. Aviation training emphasizes land as the preferred option for forced landings whenever a choice is available due to these compounding environmental hazards.