Rather reluctantly, because this lady did a terrific job and deserves our admiration, I agree with those who are uneasy about the use of the word 'hero' in this case. If words are too lightly used they lose their strength when they are really needed, in the same way that medals for valour have to be strictly controlled.
So: Hero = saving (or trying to save) life, at the risk of losing your own.
She was actually working to save her own neck, as well as the others, and surely would have been just as motivated and resourceful had she been alone with the incapacitated pilot. Great achievement, but not actually heroic - and I'm sure that she would agree.