TV Show- Hudson Plane Crash

[Kat]

There was an hour show tonight called:
Hudson Plane Crash
What Really Happened

It's really really good and has remote camera footage and still photos of the event! Remarkable!!

[mbhenty]

Yes, and this brings me to an issue which always gets me in trouble. That is the issue of heros.

Was this pilot a hero? Was it the hero in the man or the luck in the events that saved that plane?

The circumstances that unfolded were textbook to this pilot, who was a very experienced professional. Landing on water and landing on a runway with no landing gear takes on similar methods. Once the belly of the plane touches the surface of the earth it's all out of your hands. The survival of that plane has more to do with luck then with heros.

Was this pilot a hero? To everyone on the plane he sure was. To a country which starves for heros; choosing multi rich moviestars, overpaid sport brats, weirdos on some reality show who documents his life sleeping with a duck, one can see how this pilot is a hero.

Now, let us say that the plane landed in the ocean in large swells. Let us say the pilot brought the plane down beautifully. It floated for an entire hour, sunk and everyone died. There would be no talk about heros.

Which brings me to the subject: What is a hero?

A hero is someone who goes beyond the call of duty.

A hero does not get paid in the performance for his service.

Soldiers are heros.

A hero is not stuck in a situation with no choice, taking action which works out well because he has no choice.

Are firemen heros?

If you advertise for a job as a fireman getting paying a 1000 dollars a week, how long do you think that line would be. 1 block, 10 blocks long. 100 volunteer heros 5000 thousand. Let us post the job nation wide. How many would apply, 100,000, 2 million, Are these applicants all heros? Or must they be hired first.......(?)

What is a hero?