I've always hated the "hero" bit, and the "heroic struggling with the controls" nonsense in the tabloids.
So did he, it seems, and it must affected him greatly.
He is a professional, and did a professional's job outstandingly.
To me, that doesn't make him a "hero", but somebody far more worthy of respect.
"If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:..."
"If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And---which is more---you'll be a Man, my son!"
(Kipling)
That could have been written for him.
CJ