Just how is he a hero?
He was in the same danger as everyone else.
He didn't take a risk to help others, or make a sacrifice to help others.
He acted out of self-interest.
one easy thing that comes to mind (and i'm sure there are dozens of other reasons), is that he was calm under pressure, came up with a plan which he felt was best, and didn't panic or freak out. It was his idea to fly into the river, mind you.
If someone else was in charge, and they panicked and crashed, would you not agree that what Sully did was more heroic?
Hell... some people look to pro wrestlers or fictional characters like Indiana Jones to find their hero.... And you're honestly objecting to a guy who calmly changed the deathly fate of some 150 people?
It was his idea to fly into the river, mind you.
No sh!t? This genuis thought it better to crash into water than concrete and buildings? He didn't need a crack team of physicists and technicians to work that out for him? He just came up with that all on his own? Well when you put it that way...
If someone else was in charge, and they panicked and crashed, would you not agree that what Sully did was more heroic?
I would not. I would say Sully was a better pilot.
Sully is a great pilot. Some might say a good pilot might have avoided the birds; but it probably wasn't possible at that low altitude. But he was on the same plane as everyone else. He was saving his own ass; everyone else just happened to be there. Great pilot. Not a hero.
A hero is someone who puts themselves at risk to help/save others. He didn't put himself in danger. Soldiers, Firemen, that guy who jumped onto subway tracks to save the girl from getting hit by a train - all heroes. None of them need to be doing any of that. But they put themselves in danger for the benefit of others.
With all that said if I wasn't terrified of flying I'd like Sully to be the pilot on any flight I was on. I hear a lot of scary stuff about how pilots basically coast on auto pilot and the planes more of less fly themselves. Most pilots couldn't deal with an anomaly. That's insane. Sully's a great pilot and deserves all the credit in the world for being a very very good pilot. share
No sh!t? This genuis thought it better to crash into water than concrete and buildings? He didn't need a crack team of physicists and technicians to work that out for him? He just came up with that all on his own? Well when you put it that way...
*face palm* Jesus Christ...
His other option was to fly back to the airport he just left - which was an option - not saying it would've worked, but it was considered. Try to think a little bit. share
I don't know about that. I'm don't know everything about this story because I hate how much attention and adoration it's getting/has gotten. I think it's dumb.
But I think he was pretty low to the ground and he was going down. It's not a mini-cooper pulling a U-turn. I will give him some credit and say it would have been difficult to quickly turn the plane around without crashing it on the off chance he could safely land it on a runway.
I'm not sure if you're being mocking or not though. You say "try to think a little bit" but before that you say "not saying it would've worked" - so you think a little bit.
It seems like you don't know what you're talking about; but you act like you do.
I'm admitting I don't know everything about that whole situation. I'm just using common sense from what I've heard.
Seems like it would have been harder and more dangerous to bring the plan back to the runway. And nobody died. So, it's hard to say he made the wrong choice.
I still say he's not a hero. Just a good pilot.
Well then watch the movie and it goes over his options and how they were challenged. Jesus you sound dumb.
shareI read the summary in mad magazine. I got the gist. No interest in the movie.
I have more empathy for him. Still not a hero.
I think you are confusing hero and superhero.
He is not a hero for staying calm and making correct decisions but for putting with the *beep* afterwards.
I'm aware of both definitions.
I just disagree with you. If he's a hero for putting up with bullsh!t than I'm super hero. Kal El ain't got sh!t on me.
And most people are arguing that the staying calm and decision making thing is what made him a hero. But you yourself just said it doesn't. And I agree with you. That's what I've been saying.
I doubt you have done anything or will ever do anything new worthy and put you in the public eye so you have no chance to ever be a hero.
shareYou dont have to be in the public eye to be a hero. Most real heroes never get any recognition. And they dont seek it out. And nobody's calling me a hero, so.....
Thanks for weighing in, Superman. I'll try to do better. Promise. Keep up the good work.
You just called yourself a superhero
shareThe area around the Hudson (and three nearby airports) is very densly populated. If the jet were to crash there would be fire, buildings and people would be affected. Traffic would be a problem for emergency vehicles.
The Hudson is big, flat area with minimal people but full of boats made to move people quickly to the shore and nearby hospitals.
He made the best choice but I'm not sure that made him a hero - just a quick thinker and a good pilot.
No sh!t? This genuis thought it better to crash into water than concrete and buildings? He didn't need a crack team of physicists and technicians to work that out for him? He just came up with that all on his own? Well when you put it that way...
Well the morons who questioned him felt it was far better to have risked flying over one of the most populated cities in the world at low altitude with both engines on fire back to Laguardia Airport.
So yeah, Sully was a genius for doing it his way.
Sully is a great pilot. Some might say a good pilot might have avoided the birds; but it probably wasn't possible at that low altitude. But he was on the same plane as everyone else. He was saving his own ass; everyone else just happened to be there. Great pilot. Not a hero.
As for avoiding the birds, you're kidding, right? Should he have dove 5,000 feet, possibly creating many injuries onboard due to the lack of warning just to avoid them and what if he'd dove only to encounter an even greater flock of birds? And he wasn't at that low an altitude when the strikes occurred.
When driving a car, you can sometimes successfully swerve to miss a deer running across the road. But often times, just the swerve, made in panic and fear, does far more damage than would have been caused by the accidental striking of the animal with the vehicle. You could lose control of the car, run off the road, crash into a tree, etc.
Many pilots have lost engines due to bird strikes. Sully had the unfortunate luck to have had both engines get struck. It was a freak accident and one that no one was likely to believe but it did happen.
A hero is someone who puts themselves at risk to help/save others. He didn't put himself in danger. Soldiers, Firemen, that guy who jumped onto subway tracks to save the girl from getting hit by a train - all heroes. None of them need to be doing any of that. But they put themselves in danger for the benefit of others.
You've been watching too many movies. The definition of a hero is:
A person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.
They do not necessarily have to put themselves at risk in order to save others. But they do have to do something extraordinary, something that demonstrates selflessness, courage, calm under fire, and a clear mind to see what needs to be done.
Too often people stand on the sidelines and play quarterback with other people lives without lifting a finger to do anything themselves. Yes, your examples are heroes because they did not need to do any of those things to save others.
But it's easy to forget that pilots just like bus drivers and train conductors, also are charged with delivering the people they are conveying safely to their destinations. And when disaster strikes, in those moments of chaos, the hero manages to find a way to get those people to safety.
With all that said if I wasn't terrified of flying I'd like Sully to be the pilot on any flight I was on. I hear a lot of scary stuff about how pilots basically coast on auto pilot and the planes more of less fly themselves. Most pilots couldn't deal with an anomaly. That's insane. Sully's a great pilot and deserves all the credit in the world for being a very very good pilot.
I find your final paragraph to be a bit hypocritical. He's not a hero in your eyes but you'd want him to be your pilot because he's a great pilot. And what makes him great? That he managed to save the lives of everyone onboard? But that doesn't make him a hero in your book, just a very good pilot.
So if you had to fly somewhere and you had some mediocre pilot who couldn't be bothered to use his brain and he runs into a similar situation and everyone expects him to turn back to the closest airport for an emergency landing but he doesn't quite make it. He loses most of his passengers, some do survive thanks to some miracle but he's dead. Then what? He's a jackass?
Sully is a great pilot. One who decided that following the book would not save lives in his unique situation. He ditched the plane in the Hudson and saved EVERYONE. And that still doesn't make him a hero in your eyes.
Incredible.
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Just because other people are stupid that doesn't make him a genius.
Yes, I was kidding. Nice catch.
Ok cool. If that's your definition. Still no outstanding achievement. I do not believe he is a hero. He himself has said he's not a hero. I bet his dick tastes so good though doesn't it? Mmmmmm sully flavored!
He did not save the lives of everyone on board. He just didn't kill them by being a *beep* pilot. He was a good pilot and everyone lived. He was doing his job. That's all. And of course I would want a good pilot flying my plane. Wouldn't you? If you got pulled over by a cop would you want it to be a good, calm cop who knows the law and knows what he's doing? Or would you prefer a panicky gun nut who is terrified to be out there?
Example: the police in my city are mostly terrible. About a month ago my wife and i were pulled over in her car because her vehicle matched the description of a hit and run car. The cop was nice. Friendly. Checked everything out. Made sure it wasn't us that did it and off we went. Super polite. This was in a neighboring town. Then about 2 weeks ago we're driving my car. the panikcky idiots in my town pull us over. Again, suspicious vehicle (please don't ask me why our cars are so suspicious. And no I'm not making this up. Super weird coincidence) one guy pulled me over and another speeds alongside the passenger side. The cop on the passenger side gets here first and starts talking. Then the other guy, with his hand on his gun status coming up. Now, the first cop is already there. He's not going for HIS gun. My wife and I look super non threatening. No reason to have his hand on his gun. So he comes to the window and starts talking over the other guy. I understand they were just doing their job. I was glad they did it. I understand that the guys in my car may have been more dangerous than the hit and run girl. But they still handled themselves poorly. Not bad. Not good. Especially compared to the first cop from a month ago.
So yes. I would want a good pilot. I would want good cops. Good doctors. good engineers. why wouldn't I? I wouldn't call them heroes (except the GOOD cops, who put themselves at risk every day to protect people)
Well too bad you just have to latch onto someone. You most likely never been in a situation like this. Its pretty clear if someone less experienced tried to land it they would have crashed into buildings trying to get to the runway like a good pilot would. Any fool would know landing on water is better than crashing into a building.. key difference can that fool actually pull it off.
shareSure, why not? It's *beep* water.
I don't know why people are so upset and defensive over this guy. He's a great guy. Just not a hero.
Maybe not a hero to you, but he is a hero to a whole lot of people, and rightfully so.
shareWrongly. Yeah. He flew the *beep* plane. His job. Job well done. Amazing pilot. Good call on becoming a pilot. It really suits him. Again, fantastic *beep* PILOT.
If the pilot was knocked unconscious and a plumber came up from coach and landed the plane without any casualties then, yeah, hero.
If a pilot lands a plane and we praise that as heroism then we're setting that bar pretty *beep* low.
Ted, that's not for you to decide. OK, you can believe he is not a hero if you want, that's fine. But you don't decide for others. People reach their own opinions, and most see Sully as a hero. You can't change that. You may think they are wrong in believing that, and that's your opinion too.
The jury is not out on the subject of Sully being a hero: he is. Accept that you just have an opinion that is counter to what most folks think. He did a lot more than just land the plane; his judgment saved 150 lives.
And yes I know that Sully doesn't think of himself as a hero. Ironically, if he did, he probably wouldn't be!
And your *beep*'s don't add anything to the discussion, by the way.
Shep, him being a hero is also opinion. I'm not going to argue. I genuinely don't care.
*beep* *beep* *beep*
No ... it is a FACT that he is a hero. You changing the definition of the word 'hero', to be someone who puts themselves into danger to save others - just to suit your idiotic opinion - doesn't change that FACT. It is your opinion that he is not a hero but you are wrong. You quite obviously do care, otherwise you wouldn't go to so much trouble to try to convince people of something that is completely and utterly wrong. Are you really so stupid and so ignorant that you think all the medals for heroism that have been handed out by the military - the world over - have only been given to people who put themselves into danger when they didn't have to? If so then you are wrong again. Thousands and thousands and thousands of medals for heroism have been given to soldiers who, when they and their comrades were in trouble, remained calm and did what they had to do to save themselves and others. That is what a hero is. Contrary to your incorrect assertion, the fact that they also saved themselves is irrelevant and does nothing to diminish a heroic act. Yes, there are people who have put themselves into danger when they didn't have to and they are heroes too, but they are NOT the only heroes and that is NOT the definition of 'hero'.
As for landing the plane on water after losing both engines at low altitude, contrary to yet another of your incorrect assertions, that is NOT a pilot's job. They do NOT train for it because it is a one in a billion thing. There have only been four ditchings in the entire history of jet airliners. They do NOT even train for losing both engines at low altitude because that alone is incredibly rare. The tragedy here is that Sully did so well, and made the whole thing look so easy, that ignorant imbeciles like you think that what he did was some simple, by the book thing that any pilot could and would have done; as opposed to being a one in a billion miracle, pulled off by a real life hero, which is what it was. You even admit to being ignorant about the whole situation, but continue to maintain your idiotic stance!
The FACT of the matter is that ditching an Airbus A320 in water - without engines - whilst managing to keep the fuselage intact, and causing no fatalities as a result, is an incredibly difficult thing to do. If, on the approach, you slow down too much the wing stalls and the plane crashes into the water, uncontrolled, with fatalities being almost certain. If, on the approach, you don't slow down enough the plane hits the water too quickly and breaks apart, with fatalities being almost certain. You have to judge airspeed perfectly, as Sully did, so that you are going as slow as possible, without stalling, just as the plane hits the water. The pilot has to guess when the plane will first touch the water because they are used to landing at a different angle and having the landing gear down; which means the plane touches down sooner under normal circumstances. If, on approach, the angle of attack is too steep then the fuselage smashes down onto the water after the tail hits, breaks apart, and fatalities are almost certain. If, on approach, the angle of attack is too shallow, the engines dig in too soon and the fuselage breaks apart, with fatalities being almost certain. You have to get the angle of attack exactly right, within 1 or 2 degrees - as Sully did, without having trained, or being told the correct angle - or fatalities are almost certain. You have to make sure that both engines hit the water at the same time, otherwise when the first one hits it digs in and rips the wing off, which tears open the plane and makes fatalities almost certain. The list of requirements goes on and on and on with everything needing to be perfect so as to avoid fatalities.
That is all to say nothing of the fact that most pilots would not have chosen to ditch in the Hudson - because water landings are so incredibly difficult and are not trained for - and would have ended up crashing the plane on land while attempting to reach an airport. That's why the NTSB spent time looking into that and running so many simulations you cretin; because trying to land at an airport was the natural thing to do and the thing most pilots would have tried, with fatalities being almost certain. That's why Sully himself even had doubts about what he chose to do. Even with the 30 second human factor included, the plane almost made it to the various runways; which shows how close the whole thing was, and makes it likely that many other pilots would have attempted that instead. Are you really too stupid to comprehend that?
Most other pilots would not have turned on the APU almost immediately; yet another factor which saved lives. Sadly, in a way, for Sully - who is unquestionably a HERO - he remained so calm and did such an outstanding job, making the whole thing look so incredibly easy, that ignorant imbeciles like you think that what he did was in no way heroic. Why do you think it's called the MIRACLE on the Hudson you moron??? Why do you think it's known as the most successful ditching in aviation history? Why do you think the Master's Medal they were awarded states "this emergency ditching and evacuation, with the loss of no lives, is a heroic and unique aviation achievement"? You know better than the aviation experts of the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators do you? You know better than George W Bush and Barack Obama, both of whom called him a hero do you? You know better than everyone else except a small minority of loathsome, bitter losers such as yourself do you? No ... you don't. You're an ignorant idiot who never has and never will achieve anything worthwhile and you have nothing better to do than try to diminish the feat of a genuine hero. What a world we live in...
We're from the planet Duplon. We are here to destroy you.share
No
shareI think the problem may be that he made it look too easy ( a testament to his skill ). It helped me a great deal to have seen a video of a similar water landing attempt by an aircraft of roughly the same size. That aircraft simply broke apart the second it hit the water, and if memory serves, everyone onboard died.
While water standing still may be soft, hitting water or being hit by water at a decent speed is a different matter. Any one at the beach who got hit by even a moderate sized wave can attest to that. If you ever did a belly flop off a diving board, same thing.
An airplane simply isn't designed for hitting water at high speed, the structural stresses involved are just too great.
Sully is a great pilot. Some might say a good pilot might have avoided the birds; but it probably wasn't possible at that low altitude. But he was on the same plane as everyone else. He was saving his own ass; everyone else just happened to be there. Great pilot. Not a hero.
So a water landing, and NO one dying at all which is uncommon, well according to the movie, and he saved every single person and barely a scratch does not a hero make?
WOW.
Definition of hero:
[heer-oh]
Synonyms
Examples
Word Origin
See more synonyms on Thesaurus.com
noun, plural heroes; for 5 also heros.
1.
a person noted for courageous acts or nobility of character:
He became a local hero when he saved the drowning child.
2.
a person who, in the opinion of others, has special achievements, abilities, or personal qualities and is regarded as a role model or ideal:
My older sister is my hero. Entrepreneurs are our modern heroes.
You have a really strange definition for hero if Sully is not one.
((Damn the remakes, Save the originals.)) share
My god. This is STILL going on? Every other week someone pops up with a serious problem with some sh!t I said months ago. I can't have an opinion? You're right and that's the way it is? I just disagree with you I didn't murder your children.
I still maintain he's a very good pilot but not a hero. If he parachuted into a crashing plane and put himself in danger to save others then he'll yes he's a hero. He was in the plane too. If it went down so did he. I'm not saying he's a bad guy. He's a great guy and a fantastic pilot.
Thanks for the phonetic spelling and thesaurus and dictionary entries. I guess you thought maybe that's what was missing? Maybe I just didn't know ? You enlightened me and taught me something? Thanks so much.
Well in example 1 a man saved a drowning child. Maybe he was in the water already. Maybe not. Either way, have you ever tied to save someone from drowning? Expert swimmer or not, they'll pull your a$$ down in a panic without meaning to.so I would call example 1 a hero.
Example 2. In the OPINION OF OTHERS .... in my OPINION sully is not. And if you mean "well because so many people think is is then he is". I say nope. Not to me. I don't care what anybody else thinks. I form my own opinions.
For instance. I think you have a strange definition for hero. I mean, I see where you're coming from. I just think you're technically wrong and I disagree. I'm not hounding you for thinking the way you do. I don't think you're an idiot. I just think you think differently than I do. And that's ok.
Can we be done now?