Whilst the captain was no doubt a hero, the idea that modern aircraft couldn't cope is just silly. The Aloha 737 that lost its roof, the 747 that did some aerobatics off California and eventually returned to LAX minus several bits of control surface, the United Airlines 747 that lost a cargo door and quite a bit of fuselage skin over the Pacific, the Sioux City DC10, all suffered damage at least as serious, but managed to get back. Pity those pilots didn't get medals...
All true, but this story is out of the 50' and they didn't have the knowledge you all have now. Because of what all happend in the past it's these days so much easier AND saver to fly!!! a Small example; the DC-10 of Turkish near Paris could have been saved, but it took I don't know how many times in the sim to get it back to the airport... Sometimes you also need a bit of luck...