Why do they always say the pilots in a crash are "heroes"?

Question

I mean its not like they want to crash into schools, houses, cars or anything else hard that will hurt them too is it? We all want to survive, including pilots. They are trained extensively for these situations. And paid exceptionally well to reflect the level of responsibility, length of training etc. So its entirely reasonable to expect pilots to do their best, and its surely in their interests to do so too. They want to live to fly again, and keep their licence (ie., their livelihoods) intact. So maybe all this talk of being heroes is a bit unwarranted?

Answer 1

Any one that can keep a cool head in that situation & continue doing there job is a hero in my book. Personally i would have **** myself and hidden under my seat crying.

Answer 2

First off I want to point out some of the commonly-believed falsehoods in your question.  Although pilots of major airlines (and certainly British Airways) are well-trained, if you saw the level of training in the regional airlines in the United States you'd probably stop flying.  I'd call the level of training "adequate" but not much more than that.  Some are hired with only 300-400 hours TOTAL time.  We aren't well-paid either but that's a subject for another time.

I'm not complaining.  I love my job and wouldn't want to do anything else.  I just want to point out that the we are not well-paid and the "well trained" are the ones who have spent countless hours hitting the books in their own personal time.

I do agree with you that the "hero" term is a bit over-used.  My definition of a hero would be where a crash should have been 100% fatal but, because of the pilot's actions, it wasn't.  United Airlines flight 232 comes to mind (if you're not familiar with it read this transcript http://yarchive.net/air/airliners/dc10_s...  That airplane should have been a smoking hole with no survivors but because of the 4 guys up front there were many survivors.  They are heroes.

The British Airways 777 accident doesn't qualify in this regard.  Any reasonably competent pilot could have pulled this off.  Although the thought of losing both engines only 600 feet off the ground sounds horrible it really is a quite simple procedure to minimize the damage: drop the nose to keep your airspeed; flare before you hit the ground (i.e. be under control when you hit the ground and don't hit nose first).  That's basic stuff you learn as a private pilot.

Answer 3

Two points:

First, the wage levels for pilots are not that good. There've been massive givebacks at many North American and European airlines and the folks who fly for small commuter airlines probably make about the same as a taxi driver despite having much much more responsibility.

Second, on the use of the word heroes, the media always attributes it to somebody who seems to know something about a situation, such as an airline executive order traffic controller or perhaps a passenger who was actually aboard the flight. If you weren't there, what gives you the right to say that he or she was not a hero? The word "hero" does not come out of thin air; somebody grown up and responsible always says it.

Answer 4

Absolutely right, Annabell.

That word hero is massively overused these days.

Answer 5

They do not get trained for a double engine failure at such a critical stage of the flight because it is considered to be something that will ever happen. Furthermore these guys had less than sixty seconds from the start of the problems until they hit the ground, lesser pilots might have ended up landing it on the petrol station just before the perimeter fence and then you can guarentee that nobody would have got out alive.

Answer 6

True. the word hero is over used today with the media calling people like David Beckham a hero for kicking a ball!

I'm sure if you were on that plane sat in the crash position and expecting the worse then any person who landed you in reasonable safety would be a hero!

Personally having served in the armed forces I think the real day to day hero's go by unmentioned and expect no thanks.

Our soldiers,sailors,airmen, policemen,firemen,emergency services, nurses,surgeons etc......even the milkman is a bloody hero to me because without them I couldn't live the quality of life I enjoy.

Answer 7

I've said in another answer that hero is the second most abused word in the English language after love.  I don't consider anyone who gets paid to do a job they are trained to do a hero (soldiers, policemen, firemen, etc).  

When a pilot crash lands a plane and saves the passengers, he deserves credit for a job well done, but IMHO doesn't deserve the title 'hero'.  I have landed a plane without engine power (unintentionally) before.  I don't consider myself a hero.

I am also an aircraft mechanic and I've found some dooseys in my time (corroded and cracked wing spars, reversed flight controls, missing hardware) but again, I am just doing my job.

Pilots are trained for virtually every scenario or emergency situation that could arise.  And yes, training doesn't make it a cakewalk, but it does make it a heck of a lot easier.  I had emergency maneuvers training when I had my little scenario (engine failure after take off) and it enabled me to get back to the airfield instead of being a stall-spin crash statistic.  Remember also that pilots are acting out of self-preservation as much as for the people in the back.

My definition of a hero involves a person deliberately sacrificing their life to save others or risking their life to save others in a situation they have never faced before or trained for.

Edit: Double engine failures HAVE happened on modern jets (like the Gimli Glider, an Air Canada 767, and an Air Transat A330 to name only a couple).  If the airline community hasn't done simulations of these emergencies on the basis that it could never happen, then the system needs to change.  The cost to implement this extra training would be negligible.  

Fortunately, every pilot is trained to do power off approaches.  Forced approaches start very early in the private training and continues on through commercial  training.  Sure, these are small piston planes but they all glide with enough airspeed (a 767 has a better glide ratio than a Cessna 150, 17:1 vs 7:1).  The pilot of the Air Canada 767 (back in 1983) had only his glider and light piston training to go on for landing the plane without power and he touched down perfectly on the numbers.

As far as training on a simulator not having the risk the real thing does, true enough, but there are other risks.  If you blow a sim ride, you aren't going flying.  If you blow enough sim rides you are sent walking with a huge training bill to reimburse (or if you've posted a training bond like some shoe-string airlines make you do, you aren't getting your money back).  $30,000 or so isn't cheap.

Answer 8

Thank goodness for SOME sensible answers from Danny m and Poseidon.

To the questioner and the others, you will understand better when you've finished school, or if you are ever passengers on an aircraft in similar circumstances.

Answer 9

They are just doing their job. Granted it is a very highly skilled job, and they did it very well, but 'hero' is an overstatement.

Answer 10

That may be a good point. The main reason is that pilot's abilities range incredibly. It sometimes takes an incredible amount of skill (and luck) to bring an otherwise disastrous situation to a safe encounter. As a mechanic, I think we should be called heroes for discovering faults and saving the flight before it even lifts off the ground

Answer 11

Good point :-)

I agree with you 100%.

Why don't we call coal-miner, who died, heroes?

It is a bit unfair and as you stated they are doing their jobs and get paid for it :-)

Cheers,

Kempos

Answer 12

because he saved loads of other people's lives by safely landing a massive plane with no power. even WITH full training i doubt many pilots could keep a cool enough head to do this.

he is a hero in my book.

Answer 13

When I die I want to go peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather...not screaming and panicing like his passengers

Sorry, just a wee joke :)

Answer 14

Another one is when people get a possibly fatal illness and people say they are 'so brave'!

Their probably scared to death, and feel like running away from the illness but they obviously can't!

Answer 15

Glorified bus driver's.

Answer 16

Its a hero is the pilot who doesn't just let the big bird fall out of the sky, right onto a school, the airport, or on the PM's entourage. He had to glide in with no engine power at all. A miracle there were no fatalities..

Edit : Obviously it took skill and patience with nerves of steel to manage a huge airliner with no power. Don't be so cynical. If some one saved your life I bet to you they would be a hero!

Answer 17

Hello Annabel,

You are of course right that pilots are extensively trained for emergency situations..

However, this is only training and simulation. No one knows how we will actually react when faced with this kind of life and death crisis in real life. No matter how much training we have had.

I for one consider the co-pilot and pilot heroes simply because they kept their cool and put that training into effect without panic and whilst keeping the passengers calm. Not forgetting the cabin crews professionalism and calmness whenl dealing with the situation.

Even training and simulations cannot imitate every possible eventuality and if it was not for those pilots everyone on board and 100s besides could have perished.

Ask any of the passengers if they feel the pilots were .just doing their jobs' I'll wager that each and every one of them will confirm they think the pilots are heroes. Also all those people who could have been killed if the plane had crashed into their homes.

I feel sure that if you yourself was one of those passengers you would also consider them heroes too.

Thank God these two particular pilots were in charge of this particular plane at the time.

Poseidon

Answer 18

to take down a plane that size by only gliding - no power whatsoever - and get it to hit the soft ground Before the runway to cause less damage to the plane - meaning better chance of survival for passengers - is no easy task.

look at the length of a runway and look at the relativley short space he had to hit to bring it down safely.

one small slip and it could have been a burning wreckage with hundreds of casualties.  

im sorry - you can have as much training on simulators as you like, but theres one problem - you know you are in a simulator.  nothing can or ever will prepare you for sitting in the pilots seat of a plane with no engines until it happens.  i guess it is the ultimate test no pilot would ever want to face.  staring death in the face knowing hundreds of others lives are in your hands.

and certainly, no amount of money in the world can be enough to pay someone to be in that position.  he saved hundreds of lives.  hero is a term i would give the man gladly.

Answer 19

I think the term HERO is grossly over used,I agree that proffession is a much better term. A hero to me is the fellow in the US who had a total engine failure with only a small feild to land in, about 50 feet or less off the ground he realised he was heading staight for a school yard full of kids playing, witnesses saw him force the stick against the forward stops nosing the airplane into the ground killing the pilot. OR the F101 pilot in deep pitchup ( totally unrecoverable situation at low altitude) over a residential area at low altitude  used his window of opportunity to eject to instead use the afterburners and available enertia to effect to carry his airplane clear of the houses and crashed in a ball of flames in the bushes on the other side of the street. Both true stories..

Answer 20

Absolutely!!!

As you say they are trained for things like this.

Couldn't have put it better myself.

Answer 21

I'm sorry these men aren't heroes???

yes they are trained for all eventuallies, but thats in a simulater, not the real world, the only time you know how you're going to react is when it happens for REAL!!

the Japanese 747 crew who battled with their plane long after it's fate was sealed are heroes

The crew of the sioux city DC10 which crashed on the runway were heroes because they got an out of control plane back to the ground on engine thrust alone.

The crew of the BA flight which suffered a sudden decompression but still landed safely were heroes.

all of these flight crews did the job they are trained for, but they all went above and beyond the call of duty, which makes them heroes as it would with any Police Officer, Fireman, Doctor/Nurse, Soldier, Lifeboat man, Paramedic etc etc

these people are all heroes to call them anything else is frankly an insult!!!

Answer 22

Well there is no such thing as a dead hero,

Answer 23

i do believe that they are heroes for keeping a cool head, it is split second decisions that mean they and others live or die,  even with training i would not be sure a could have done it

Answer 24

So do you want the passengers to be called heroes or what? Who ever is at the flight deck is supposed to be the hero. The passengers just sit relaxed and enjoy inflight facilities.

Answer 25

could'nt agree more!! what would he be if he had hit a housing estate?

Answer 26

I think people need heroes.

At least, that's mho...

Answer 27

Its not generally pilot error that is the cause of the crash.

Any pilot that can save lifes in situations like this has the right

to be called a hero...lets face it,if you saved a child from being knocked down by a car,wouldnt you expect to be called a hero...or were you just doing your job?

Answer 28

Lots of lives were saved. Certainly stamped as hero status.

Answer 29

I thought exactly the same after the pilots were on tv about the heathrow crash, I thought 'but what if it comes out it crashed cos of negligence of the pilots'! But I guess they did do well in the situation but then again they are trained to, I think people just think about what they would do in that situation and most of us would panic and mess it up so thats why they think pilots are heroes, and also its a good story cos they can say they 'averted disaster'

Answer 30

Any landing you can walk away from is the completion to a successful flight. But if you look at aviation statistics you can be sure that the level of safety is at it's best ever. There has been some really unusual incidents in airplanes where no one thought anybody could possibly survive, but yet they did. Just look at what the outcome was with that Aloha Airlines 737 over Hawaii, that crew had their act together........no doubt. Are they "heroes"??

Answer 31

Am sure to all the people that survived he is a hero.

Pilots are trained to how to deal with things that go wrong.