[European Snake]

For one thing, a carrier is moving.

It is a lot easier to land on a carrier that is moving in the direction you are trying to land.

Easier to take off of a moving carrier too--especially with full tanks and ordinance.

So practicing on land would actually be more difficult.

But if somebody really wanted to do this, then all they would have to do place an aircraft carrier (static ship) on land. In fact, you could find some terrain that is about the height of the carrier and the deck would be at ground level.

Also--look at the tutorials/training tracks in the game for help.

Hey, the "training carriers" of WWII were basically that.

As for ending in pieces, you probably come in too fast and at too high of a decent rate.