Engine out
While I realise it's the main point of discussion here, this all seems to refer to modern airliners with bags of power.
Wasn't it the case not so long ago, with feeble engines, that " to try & turn back was suicide " - land straight ahead-ish, hoping that doesn't involve a church spire, town etc.
I realise military fast jets are a little different, and single engined ones have simpler decisions to make ( though there have been some truly heroic dead-stick landings, such as the late Hugh Mereweather and Peter Twiss ) but on my ride in G-Hawk, an especially valuable instrumented demonstrator, I was still left in doubt at all, " if we lose the engine on takeoff ( birdstrike being the most likely culprit ) we eject "
Having nice flat unpopulated farmland dead ahead was a handy thing, but there was clearly no thought of a dead-stick wheels up landing on grass, if that was within reach.
I suspect the same Test Pilot, if alone in a new model aircraft, may well have tried to belly-land and save it.