[eprevhay]

Ok, lets say that you are flying a Cessna 172 along the shore of a popular beach when your engine quits. You have to land for sure, but where?

If you land in the water, first of your airplane will be unsalvageable. You also risk flipping the airplane over when you touch the water. This in turn may kill you and/or your passengers.
If you land on the wet and hard part of the sand you risk injuring or even killing several people, since this is where most of them set up their stuff.
If you land where the sand is soft your airplane will probably flip over when the nose gear touches the sand. This in turn will severly damage your airplane and may injure or kill you and your passengers

What would you do?

[trickie]

I am assuming that I am flying a fixed gear aircraft. I would land the aircraft in the least populated part, whether it be the upper beach area, lower, or in the shallow water all 3 should be survivable for the occupants of the aircraft if proper care is taken. Great attention should be taken in this case to fly into the wind because for as long as I have lived by the shore there has always been a good stiff steady breeze coming either the land or the water, enough to lower the gs significantly if the aircraft is aimed just right.