Roadtrip and Kinsman,
I don't think you're being entirely fair when you assert that Capt Piche was elevated to the status of a hero prematurely. While I agree that the desperate situation he found himself in was quite possibly of his own making and that he had a huge amount of luck, you cannot deny that, in gliding a heavy jet to a safe landing at an airfield, he pulled off an amazing feat of airmanship. The two other possible outcomes would have been a crash landing or a ditching. The chances of either of those being fatality-free are pretty well zero. For his seizing his one and only chance and making it, he surely deserves the accolades bestowed on him.
Rockhound