Hero-making as a defense against the anxiety of responsibility and risk: A case study of US Airways Flight 1549

By examining US Airways Flight 1549’s glider-like landing on New YorkCity’s Hudson River on 15 January 2009, this article contributes to a deeperunderstanding of the psycho- and socio-analytic aspects of American culture.Using system psychodynamics as a conceptual framework, the essayuses this case study to demonstrate how individual psychology, groupdynamics, and systemic influences intertwined to tap a collective societalneed for a traditional male hero to salve the cultural disillusionment createdby corporate scandals, executive greed, job loss, and terrorist attacks in post-9/11 America. Understanding how this phenomenon occurred helps us grapplewith psycho-cultural factors that favour searching for a saviour overrecognising collective responsibilities that encourage more collaborativeapproaches to crisis decision making