Yes, the govt pays bigtime for damages, even though you can't sue except for very narrow guidelines - and yes, pilots are trained to stay with the aircraft for as long as possible to try to avoid causing possible incidental damages/deaths - some have stayed with the aircraft all the way into the ground in an attempt to avoid loss of life - the govt would prefer to have a talking pilot to help understand what happened, so to hopefully avoid a repeat situation

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Mark _______________________________
2001 X5 4.4i topaz blue/sand Sport, complete Dinan S2 , hitch, V1, tint, BSW Stage 1, Alpine INA-W910BT
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Life is not fair!
You can't protect people from their own stupidity!
Laughter makes life worth living