A "hero" is someone that, without regard for personal safety, interjects him/herself into a situation for which they are not being paid or have not been trained... A professional is someone that does the job for which they're paid/trained in spite of the circumstances. The pilots of the USAir flight dealt with the chitty situation handed them with excellence. But they were just saving their own asses.
The word "hero" is far too lightly flung around in our society IMO... no one I know in the airline community would use that word to describe what took place with USAir... despite quality airman-ship.
