All this flying over entral London garbage, is just ridiculous.
Nothing is going to stop an aircraft commander from executing his judgement as to what field he takes his aircraft to after a PAN. You can bleat on endlessly about re-directing an re-routing, if the crew don't like , they simply won't do it.
You see the overall responsibility for the aircraft and its compliment rests with the captain, and we do not take our responsibility lightly. If the crew do all in their power to bring the aircraft back safely, they are also saving everyone's lives under the flight path, the two outcomes cannot be separated.
Now having made that clear, I doubt there is a pilot who has ever drawn breath, (kamikaze pilots excepted), would attempt to minimise the risk to people on the ground if faced with a totally stricken aircraft. Captain Sullenberg, is an excellent example. As soon as he was aware the he was going no place but down hill, he did two things, maintained flying speed, and sought out an area to minimise the impact on the poor unsuspecting. It just so happens that minimising the damage on the ground is almost always going to be the best outcome for the crew and passengers.
Let me restate my firm belief, no amount of pressure from ATC (or anyone else), re population centres, is going to change the track an aircraft operating under emergency procedures flys over. Save for the extremely rare event when the aircraft is rendered unflyable(as in Sullenberg's case).
This aircraft did not look pretty, but it was eminently flyable, and would have remained so for a significant amount of time.
I am an aircraft captain, and I have high praise indeed for the way this crew handled themselves.
If I ever find myself in a similar circumstance, I would not at all take kindly to someone telling where I should fly over. (I could probably be convinced by a couple of close formation Tornados).
All heavy jets operate IFR, and as such have no way of avoiding a certain flight path IMC. The whole concept is so utterly ridiculous.
So all you concerned citizens on the ground, rest assured that every crew will do their best to save their own skin, and by default be saving yours as well.