I don't believe the intention of that test was to try and safely put a plane down in a desert. It was a remote controlled crash test. The wiki page[1] says the

I don't believe the intention of that test was to try and safely put a plane down in a desert. It was a remote controlled crash test. The wiki page[1] says the descent rate was 1500 feet per minute. A typical touchdown rate according to the linked MIT article about this crash[2] puts airliner landings at 10-20 feet per minute. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Boeing_727_crash_experiment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Boeing_727_crash_experime... [2]: https://web.archive.org/web/20130129040232/http://alum.mit.edu/pages/sliceofmit/2012/10/10/scientists-crash-a-plane-in-the-name-of-safety/ https://web.archive.org/web/20130129040232/http://alum.mit.e...