For me, courage is following the path of your heart in spite of the rugged terrain and naysayers along the way. It is valuing yourself when others tell you your crap, and doing what you believe is right when you might pay a great price. It is having integrity in situations when integrity isn’t easy.

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As I said before it’s obvious we all feel ‘Sully’ was a hero and an incredibly skilled and composed guy. He’s certainly the guy that I’d want piloting any plane I got on.

I’m not sure where we are with the courage thing though. I think the fact that there are so many valid and well thought out opinions in this thread, leaves me to believe that it really has to be a personal thing.

I don’t think irrespective of what the dictionary says, that there is a definition that everybody would be happy with. To say that courage is this or courage is that misses the point imho. Courage is whatever you think it is and how however you want to apply the word is fine if that works for you.

Thanks again everybody I really have enjoyed reading all the different opinions.

This is indeed a very interesting post. I have read, and re-read all of the commenters positions, and have no disagreement with any of them.

My Take,
You in the Bar; Insurmountable odds, no real win available, I would have called the cops and had them escort me out, or gone section8 drooling and screaming and had the bouncers escort me out (Im sure you could have paid them). You on the cliff, also my first inclination to avoid the jump unless that cliff had been thoroughly tested and found safe to dive by some sort of Cliff Divers Association.(joke)
Im a big chicken, thats why I train so much.

Sully=Hero. Here is why. We train for just about everything that you can replicate in simulators. The rest is theoretical. Unfortunately, as good as the sims are, they cannot replicate all of the possibilities of ditching. Also, we cannot practice them in a real airplane for obvious reasons. The variables that have resulted in tremendous failure rates for ditching include, but are not limited to; swell, waves, current, wind, turbulence, and aircraft contact factors.

What I mean by that is simply this, the simulators are not set up to give us perspective on swell size, current, individual waves, and points of contact for those waves. If one physical part of the aircraft were to contact the water first in a wing low or nose low position, the impending cartwheel that would ensue could be disasterous. This is what I would call an incident that separates “pilots” from “aviators”.

Sully is an Aviator. His resume speaks for itself. It took an aviator (2 with his First Officer) to keep that aircraft from going into that river uncontrolled.

Having experienced several emergencies over 20 years of flying airplanes, I can tell you that each time you say the word Emergency, you have to fight yourself first. If you cannot park your fear or ego and motivate into the challenge, you are toast. The only solution to that is inoculation. It is why we get a wringing out in the simulators every six months, a Crew Resource Management acclimation when we train, and are encouraged and instructed to use our fellow crew and passengers in just such an event. The training we receive may not cover EVERY possibility, but it programs us for success when the unexpected arises.

Bottom line, if Captain Sullenberger had dragged a wing, stalled the airplane, or tried to take an ill fated turn towards Teterboro, we would have a much different story being broadcast. That guy, in my opinion, saved everyones bacon. Judging by some of the personal comments that I have heard from many of the pilot message forums I have read, he will not want anyone calling him a hero. He loves to fly, he loves to take you along, and he loves making a living at doing what he does best. Sounds like a guy I would like to fly with.

Courage is putting aside your fear and moving forward. Whether doing it for self preservation, or for the lives of those entrusted to you justifies those definitions you guys can decide. I have not experienced a water landing in a Jet aircraft, and hope I never do. The few times I have had to declare an emergency, I knew in my heart if I did not act, there would be loss greater than just my own. It weighs on you, and you have to deal with it to get on to the business of saving lives. I believe we all have this ability, pilots are no different. We are just inoculated to different things than the average passenger.

Congrats Captain Sullenberger, you are a hero in my book. Job well done.

I agree, courage is what it takes to move past one’s comfort zone. So, courage depends on the person and their experiences.

Perhaps then, we can only judge our own courageousness and not that of others. We can’t others on a “brave” pedestal without hearing the full story i.e. hearing about their fears.

This is a very interesting thought. Thank you.

Juliet

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I always remember a woman who was sitting in front of me in the audience who stunned me when during the Q&A she asked Tim, “Do you think the world needs more heroes?“.

I hadn’t thought of the character as a hero, but Elizabeth (the woman, who I was so impressed by that I flirted with her at the after party and ended up dating) changed my definition of what a hero is.

I agree that courage is to “do something that frightens you to death even when there is an opportunity to back out”, but a hero is someone who focuses that ‘something’ on what truly matters to them.

It’s possible that when the catastrophe happened, his brain switched over into automatic mode and landed the plane. In which case, he’s certainly a hero but may not have had to exercise courage. Once nearly got hit by a truck that must not have seen me…I remember it, but everything was automatic. It lasted 5 seconds.

I think it takes a lot of courage if you’re in a situation where you’re not on autopilot and have to combat thoughts like “Omigod, we’re going to crash.” Staying focused instead of letting them get to you seems like a courageous act to me.

And for the record, jumping off the cliff not so courageous. I think courage requires that you believe that something about this world (even something small) will be better if you take this action you really don’t want to take. Jumping off the cliff is fun (?), but doesn’t make a difference. A pilot, soldier, EMT, etc, is courageous when they take risks to make a difference. As is a person who leaves an abusive relationship or one who just moves out of their parents’ house.

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But like Tim and others, I’m not sure “courage” is quite the right word. I think courage is going against your fear to take action when it would be easy sit back and do nothing.

Ali