Hero Pilot or What

[BertiWooster]

Does anyone agree that the pilot who managed to land that stricken aeroplane yesterday , given the circumstances ,without anyone being killed , is a hero ?

[Lakitu]

.

[BertiWooster]

no.knowledge

If you were one of the passengers on that aeroplane , you might have a different view as to whether he is a hero or not

Zacsmaster

Yes the black box will assist in dertermining the exact cause of the engine failure - although there are reports that the failure of the engines were due to ingestion of birds .

There are any number of situations can contribute to pilot error . Pilot errors does not necessarity means negligence on the part of a pilot .

[Quizmonster]

I agree with No-knowledge, because what he/she describes is the primary meaning of the word, 'hero'...ie bravery and the deliberate putting of oneself in danger has to be involved.
At best, the pilot fits the secondary meaning of the word, which is " a person reverenced and idealised", according to Chambers Dictionary. That is precisely what is happening to the man in the media.
He is clearly a super-competent pilot who exercised the skills required perfectly...and with a great deal of luck thrown in. What if there hadn't been a handy river to ditch in? What if the controls had been damaged and he couldn't steer? Plus lots of other such questions.

A brilliant pilot, certainly, but not a hero. I'd almost be prepared to guarantee that this is exactly what he himself thinks.

[Octavius]

I was thinking along the same lines. I think he was very professional for managing to avoid all the highly populated streets and possibly brave for landing on water, but it is his job and what he would have been trained to do. And given the choices, the water was the safest bet for survival. I am sure that is what he would say.

[jake-the-peg]

Although I read (unsubstantiated) that he made sure everyone was out of the plane before he got out.

And it takes a certain type of courage to keep your head and make good decisions under that sort of pressure.

I'm sure they recruit and train for such cases but I'll bet there will be a lot of pilots today asking themselves "could I have done that?"

[Quizmonster]

I've always heard it said that if you can keep your head when all about are losing theirs, you don't really understand the situation!

[BertiWooster]

jake

Re your last paragraph

I remember watching a film ( based on a true story ) , where a pilot managed to glide is his aircraft for something like half an hour, plus , to a safe landing ; when the engines failed .

He had some instruments , which was powered by a tiny propellar device .

Afterwards the flight data was fed into a flight simulator , and pilots invited to see if they could land safely .
All the pilots crashed.

[legendis.god]

brave , calm,collected, professional, and a credit to himself and pilots in general.


not a hero , but heroic possibly.

if thats not a contradiction ?

[~max~]

Maybe not a hero, but a damm good pilot and a wonderful brave and level-headed person! He also apparently left the plane last. I suppose it's the same as the captain never leaving a sinking ship. Some sort of "code of honour".
I know that, had I been in the plane, or had a loved one been in it, I couldn't thank the guy enough. Bloody well done, I say!

[rov1200]

Definately a hero! But what can the Airbus engineers do when visiting the crashed plane. The US like us, a bird loving population, may recognise only planes or birds should be in the one airspace at the same time and that means reducing their numbers.

[Booldawg]

People steer their cars out of life threatening dangers everyday. They're all heroes.

[keyplus90]

Plane crash or survive, that does notmake any difference. Americans are always heros. Don't you watch movies? Or you name any kind of natural disaster where American did not save the world from it.

[sara3]

he did what he was trained to do, but fair do's.. he did a fine job of it!

[tufty7]

Fresh from an argument with the wife over the exact same question, She say's hero , I say over used term and he was doing the job he has been trained to do and he did it well,
Pilots cannot practice crashes, they are however trained to deal with emergencies that can cause crashes and this one did well, and he must be over the moon no one was killed .

[BertiWooster]

Sod the Oxford English dictonary's , or other , definition of a of a ' hero '

In my book he is a hero .

[eltelioni]

He did not have a lot of choices. There was not enough height to turn and return to the runway. the river was the only option. But he glided that airliner to that river and ditched it without breaking up, which is no mean feat. He then ensured he was the last person to leave his sinking ship. He saved all those people by his professionalism and his expertise. So no, he didn't leap in and put himself at risk to save others in some crazy stunt. He is one of those people who works hard all their life to be the best at what they do, regardless of whether it is recognised. Then he was tested, and he was not found wanting. That is another kind of heroism, but heroism all the same.

[alan-r]

my driving examiners daughter was a BOAC stewardess
around 1965 a 707 (whiskey echo) crash landed at heathrow it caught fire she went back in 2/3 times to rescue peolpe but never returned on her last attempt to get a handicapped lady out, i don't recollected her being called a hero at the time but was awarded posthumously the George cross