Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
Heroes
By now, you’ve heard of the dramatic emergency landing of an Airbus A320 on the Hudson Rivers by US Airways pilot Chesley B. Sullenberger III, and you’ve also probably heard this pilot called a hero more than a few times, either. So I’m wondering: what makes this guy a hero?
What caught my attention (on Countdown) was the implication that the pilot’s successful ditching (that’s what you call a forced water landing) was heroism. That’s not heroism. That’s called skill. Phenomenal skill, but skill and little more. Why is it heroism — the fact that he didn’t panic, piss his trousers, and crash the plain? Heroism is not the absence of cowardice. Heroism isn’t even keeping a cool head in a dire situation. It’s not just getting the job done.
It seems to me that heroism requires both getting the job done despite considerable personal risk and having some choice in the matter.
Okay, maybe I’m being a hard ass about this, and it’s not like I’ve done anything to make me an expert. But I do think it’s worthwhile to think about these concepts critically. People throw that “hero” term around far too lightly.
Captain Sullenberger used his considerable skills to do what had to be done. He did it exceptionally well and deserves praise for it. He ditched the plane and no one died.
The passengers evacuated the cabin in ninety seconds. And then, with the plane sinking, the captain and the copilot went down through the cabin, checking to make sure all of the passengers had, in fact, left the plane.
And then they did it a second time. In a sinking plane, they double-checked to make sure there were no injured passengers left behind.
That’s heroism.
D.
An excellent point! I agree with you completely.
On a much less important scale, when I was in a customer service training course, I mentioned that I thought good customer service was when someone did what I needed in a polite way. The trainer pointed out that this should be the standard and not something unusual. Me, I still thank people for doing what is simply their job, because they always have the choice to not do it.
I agree completely.
Landing the plane wasn’t heroic – it was self-preservation. Double checking the plane – that was entirely optional,so that’s what makes it heroic.
Oh, I love it when people agree with me 🙂
Surely there’s someone out there who will be so incensed by the time he reaches paragraph 2 that he’ll skip the rest and flame me in the comments?
glad no one was killed hats off to all that assisted
I don’t consider the pilot a hero either; as you said, he did his job with skill. Maybe what’s at work here is the fact that so few people do their job with skill these days that we don’t even recognize a work ethic and call it heroism instead.
This was a well-written piece.
“so few people do their job with skill these days that we don’t even recognize a work ethic and call it heroism instead.”
No kidding. Has anyone else watched that Disney Channel show “Higglytown Heroes”? Good example of exactly this.
I applaud the pilot for his great skill, and the luck that placed the pilot with the exact right training for this situation in the right place at the right time. The whole crew did their jobs well.
I guess I’ll be the voice of dissent. I applaud you for a well written post. And in many cases, I would agree that the word hero is overused. However, there are two reasons that I disagree with your post. One of the definitions of hero, according to merriam-webster.com, is “a man admired for his achievements and noble qualities.” In this case, where Captain Sullenberger is the first pilot to ever have a successful water landing in a passenger aircraft, I’d argue that he is definitely admired for that achievement. Using your example of his checking the cabin twice despite the fact that the plane was sinking, you might attribute this to a noble quality…making his landing worth of labeling him a hero.
To play devil’s advocate on that second part of the definition, however, I’d offer this caveat. As a trained airline flight crew member, it was the pilot’s job to make dang sure that the cabin was cleared of passenger’s before he removed himself. So (again, devil’s advocate), by your own definition, this wouldn’t be heroism either, since it was just doing his job.
I’d suggest that we simply split the difference, however, and say that Captain Sullenberger is one hell of a pilot and is worthy of much admiration.
Oh, I’ll agree he’s one hell of a pilot. Next time I make reservations, I’ll say, “Can I have Captain Sullenberger, please?”
I’m sure the cabin-checking had to be part of a manual somewhere. But did he have to check twice? That’s what really got to me. The truly cynical take would be that he checked twice to avoid the shame of leaving someone behind . . . . but even in that construction, he’s choosing “avoidance of shame” over “surviving.” That’s still heroic, I think.