What had actually happened on that flight deck was not a hero and her supporting cast.

It was a crew, assembled by accident out of strangers, doing the thing crews do, which is to make of several frightened limited people one competent whole that none of them could have been alone.

Davis flew.

She backed him.

The airplane came down.

Remove any one of them and it does not, and that, not her, was the thing worth telling children about.

The main wheels touched, the left clean and solid, and for one long terrible second the right side hung, the wing dipping as the unconfirmed gear took the weight and the whole airframe asked a question nobody could answer.