Even if everything goes according plan with setting up for a real forced landing, you don’t know what surprises await until you are on short final and essentially committed to the landing.
A mate of mine had an engine failure, picked a paddock and when on final, then saw all the rocks. I was in company with him when it happened, you couldn't see any of the obstacles from 1000ft. He did his best to avoid them but hit a few rocks and flipped it. When the cops finally turned up, one of them said 'why didn't you steer around the rocks?' I don't think I'd ever heard my mate swear before but he replied 'I'd like to see you do any f@cking better' Very funny, you had to be there.
... and yes, a pilot who performs a technically difficult task with l@ser focus while under extreme stress of death or injury and does so successfully is a hero in my book.
Gotta agree with Checkers, what Sully, Styles and the cabin crew did was nothing short of a...........miracle, to have everyone survive that was spectacular. The most impressive part was their behaviour after the event.