"Hero" is one of those words that tends to get thrown around a little too freely, at least until a true hero emerges who reminds us of the real meaning of the word.

The extraordinary landing of US Airways flight 1549 in the Hudson River on Thursday was a remarkable act of courage. To land a plane and evacuate 155 people – including Bermuda developer Carl Bazarian – with almost no injuries is a true act of heroism.

We know that water landings are rarely successful; they are last ditch attempts to get a plane down when there are no other options. And we also know that Capt. Chesley B. Sullenberger chose the river to avoid a crash landing in a densely populated area of New York after it was clear he would not be able to make it back to an airport.

What would you do if you were the pilot of an aircraft whose engines cut out when six seconds after takeoff and only 3,000 feet above the ground? Panic? Pray? Jump?

If you were Captain Sullenberger, you would take over the controls of your aircraft from your first officer, coolly decide where to land, glide your aircraft to the perfect place and then execute a landing so smooth some of the passengers and attendants would not even realise they have landed on water.

Then you and your crew execute an evacuation of the aircraft and wait for rescue by New York City's finest. All in a day's work, right?

In fact, the crew and passengers were lucky to have Capt. Sullenberger on board. A veteran of decades of flying, he was also an aircraft safety expert and a glider pilot; perhaps the perfect combination for the events of Thursday.

Someone with fewer hours in the air, less interest in safety issues, fewer hours spent gliding, might not have been able to do all that Capt. Sullenberger achieved; there were simply too many opportunities for something to go wrong.

But it also shows what decades of training and professionalism – coupled with an extremely cool head – can accomplish.

Author Malcolm Gladwell, in his book "Outliers", thinks that high levels of achievement, and what we might consider to be genius or heroism, can come down to practice and dedication. And there may be something in that. Mr. Gladwell even has a magic number for how many hours of practice are needed to get to a point beyond excellence – 10,000. How many hours did Capt. Sullenberger spend in the cockpit, flying planes, training other pilots and so forth? Over 30-odd years of flying it would be in the thousands. They were worth it.

It is worth remembering the courage and coolness of the crew as well. Apparently one cabin attendant stopped a passenger from opening the rear door of the plane, which might well have flooded it. Others hand-cranked one of the emergency slides when it failed to automatically deploy.

Then too, the New York emergency services acted remarkably well under the circumstances and the speed and efficiency with which they got the passengers off the wings and floats and onto the ferries and rescue boats that rushed to the rescue undoubtedly saved lives.

As of Saturday, Capt. Sullenberger, who walked the cabin twice before abandoning ship, had not spoken publicly. But National Transportation Safety Board member Kitty Higgins said: "He could not be more happy that he got everyone off the airplane safely."

What more can you say?