You don't pay Captains to be the best pilot on the plane (indeed, after a recent type change, they may be the
least experienced on type!) - you pay Captains to make decisions.
Losing both engines at low altitude, with two airports
nearly within range, this Captain made possibly the biggest decision of his career to ditch in a river - and it paid off.
The FO may indeed have been brilliant - but the Captain gets the kudos IMHO.
I'm surprised by the number of comments from pilots that they expected a ditching to be nigh impossible - some even preferring certain destruction by attempting a landing on a highway!!
My initial jet type rating included watching the engineering videos of the ditching tests. Lots of large scale models gliding into water tanks, engines shearing off etc. It was always expected in that airline to be a survivable procedure.
