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Its amazing that they managed to do what most people would consider impossible.
Insane.
I don't really consider him a hero, but he's a darn good pilot...
From Dictionary.com
hero
[heer-oh]
–noun, plural -roes;
1. a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities.
2. a person who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic act and is regarded as a model or ideal: He was a local hero when he saved the drowning child.
I think the word applies very nicely to him...
I'm impressed how quickly all of those decisions were made and executed. In real life, I bet everything seemed slow motion the the men in the cockpit. Also, that clip fully explains why air traffic controllers are some of the most stressed out professionals.
You can never please everyone.
I would have crapped myself, and thanked God that we had a great pilot.
Actually, saving 155 would probably put him up there as a pretty darn awesome one.
Hero is used too loosely these days. A guy that rescues a kid's cat from a tree is called a hero now...
If you pay attention to the conversation in the cockpit you will see he was considering the Hudson way before he told the controller he could not make it. Definately had some very hard choices to make in a very short period of time. I think he knew from just after the bird strike that he could not make any airport. The flight path indicates that he was lining up on the Hudson just in case the engines could not be restarted.
what is not mentioned is that the first officer was just as responsible for the safe ditching as the captain. They worked as a team to pull that off.
In my book he is both a darn good pilot, lucky and a hero. Good pilot because he made good disions, lucky because the plane did not flip and tumble in the water and a hero because of his actions he saved lives. But the amazing thing it that there is no smog in the video.