Joe Green - RIP and others...

[Eli Sherer]

I had the opportunity to fly with Joe once, when both our (my and 
Kevin O'Keefe's) helicopter was under the weather. Joe was quite the 
character. He did not smoke his trademark cigars when I flew with 
him... but did stay with the piston powered Enstrom C "Shark" while 
everyone else was going to the Jet powered Bell 206 Jetranger and 
Hughes 500. I remember hearing stories of how he had cut a report or 
two short because he had dropped a cigar in his lap and really had to 
put the mic down to get it :-)

Joe would also push the weather a bit harder than anyone else... He 
really loved what he was doing, and more than once had to land and 
leave his helicopter along the esplanade, or at the gravel pit along 
Rt. 1 (Revere)  because the fog came down more than expected.

And yeah... I worked for Metro for a number of years, both flying and 
on the ground. Not everyone always had things right... you just 
can't. But as we all flew out of the same airport in Beverly... there 
was this camaraderie that would allow us to help each other out. Even 
before I started carrying a scanner up in the air, Joe, Kevin, 
Officer Bill... they'd all listen to each other's broadcast reports 
on the radio. If someone was late getting up or missed something and 
was out of position... it wasn't unknown for another reporter to 
advise them to "check out what's going on here...."

But those were the days when traffic reporting was an art... and the 
artists like Joe will always be remembered.

-Eli