...is simply keeping your head and doing what you are trained to do.

There are certainly plenty of situations where media enthusiasm causes problems, like filming the invasion of Iraq and saying how cool it is... that's bad.

But getting all excited and calling pilots heroes when they manage to execute a crash-landing with no fatalities, is something I think we can easily forgive the media for.

It's sensational... and sensational sells newspapers. But I see no harm in glorying in a miracle, and being proud in pilots who did an excellent job even though they were also very lucky.

It's better than revelling in battles and body counts.

This is news people can feel good about.

I don't know Patrick. Reading through your article I just got even more convinced how miraculous this landing was.

It sounds amazing to me that after losing both engines, the pilots still have procedures that allow them to fly and land a plane.

And I can't even imagine what it must have like to be an average person, strolling along the Hudson river, on the way to whatever mundane task they had planned for the day and looking over and seeing a fricking jet airplane glide by and land on the water.

It seems so unlike you, so curmudgeonly to want to minimize how extraordinary this event is to us, the average civilian.

I've always maintained that being a hero involves being placed in a situation where you're scared sh*tless, then overcoming that fear and doing what you have to do. I'm no airline pilot, but I've been in a few 'situations', and even though they're trained professionals, I guarantee that when the that moment came, you can bet you couldn't have pried those seats from their tightly clenched buttocks. They may have been 'just doing their jobs', and have been lucky, but my hat's still off to the entire crew. And yes, I'd say they're heroes.

Patrick, how many times (say, out of 100) does that exact same scenario lead to no loss of life? Or let's put it a different way - with a different flight crew, what are the chances there are 0 deaths?

Much was made of the fact that the head pilot had a lot of experience in a glider and had been an instructor in emergency landings. Surely these things mattered, did they not? Maybe that would count toward what you call luck -- but only in the sense that if someone else had been the head pilot on the plane, perhaps things would have ended differently.

These facts, if true, should surely be a part of the narrative and would point to something more extraordinary -- more heroic, if you will -- than just people doing their jobs. It was apparently someone quite exceptional just doing his job. You should have mentioned these points, or else told us why they weren't as important as the media made them sound. To ignore them seems kind of fishy, like you have a point of view and you're not going to let events stand in the way of getting that point across.

Patrick,

Love the column. I am a professional with an advanced degree. Consider myself a pretty smart dude. And I fly pretty regularly for a living. And I'll be dammmed if I understand how one of those things even stays in the air. I honestly think it's a miracle every time I fly to Florida without a hitch. Seriously. I just don't get it. One of those big machines taking off, landing, and, most importantly staying aloft, is a freaki' miracle to me. Every time. The idea that someone can land one of them in the Hudson River and no one gets hurt? Beyond a miracle. Almost biblical in so far as degree of unreality. Sorry about that. I just can't help it.

A fan.

And thanks for an intelligent and common-sense view. The words "hero" and "miracle" get bandied about a lot, by the news folks and by people interviewed on the news. You're right: the crew did exactly what they were trained to do. Kudos to the pilots - no question - but that's why they pay them the big bucks. Its sad that competence, simply doing one's job well, is considered heroic these days.

As for "miracle" - I don't even know what that means. Had the wind been stronger, or the waves high, or the plane more badly damaged, things may well have been much, much worse.

Patrick...I truly have to say that I think you are upset that it was not you who is receiving this media attention. I know, "how dare I," right? This seriously sounds like a little kid...well I can do it better or "it wasn't that good!"

The men are heros. They made the right calls, the glided a hunk of metal to a very smooth landing! They kept the plane 'just right' so that it didn't spin out of control! This is heroism at its finest.

I normally, truly enjoy reading your article but this was just ridiculous. I think its time that salon gets a less jaded pilot to write this column.

Patrick, this is one the most cynical and sour articles I've ever read. Ok, you're an old pro...we get it. But boy have you missed the point.

First, regarding the media reaction. Most of this country is starved for some good news. Most of this country has been increasingly disappointed and depressed by the behavior of people in responsible leadership positions. Finally, we have an affirmation that "we are who we thought we were". I am usually one the of the first to tune out a wall-to-wall media event, but I couldn't get enough of this story.

Perhaps you missed the comments of the pilot in the days following the crash, but he talked about the second officer's contributions...trying to restart the engines and at the same time preparing the aircraft for a water landing.

If you weren't feeling so bitter, a much better angle for your story would have been describing an "opposite cascade" of events. Virtually all transportation accidents are the result of a cascade of events/mistakes. And if you remove any one of those events/mistakes, the accident doesn't happen.

But this accident had a cascade of fortunate events: the bird strike happened at an altitude that gave the pilot the time and speed his needed to land the plane, the pilot is an expert in crisis behavior, the pilot is a trained glider pilot, the accident happened in daylight, in the area of the Hudson River directly adjacent to ferry docks, there was no ice on the river even though the day was freezing cold (there was ice the next day), the plane had full fuel tanks which helped keep it afloat. Pull out any one of these factors, you most certainly get a different outcome.

This is a cascade to marvel at. Luck? Sure. But so what? Isn't it great that we get to celebrate some good luck for a change? And to celebrate highly trained pilots and flight attendants, disciplined passengers, expert boat captains and crews, and generous and brave boat passengers...all of whom are performing in front of our eyes?

Save your sour cynicism for the pilot's lounge. We're inspired.