Fireman on the BBC said "He was lucky the trees broke the fall" or words to that effect. I would say he was very unlucky he hit the trees when he was hoping to come down on open ground. Old advice from my instructing days for a forced landing at night. "When you assess your height to be aprox 200' AGL, turn on the aircraft landing light. If you do not see, or can not reach a suitable landing area, switch it off again."