Joe Green - RIP and others...

[iraapple]

Joe loved his helicopter, - I mean the one before the Enstrom.

I think the year was 1978. We had made arrangements with F. Lee Baily to
provide Joe with the latest model Enstrom. It had everything including
luxurious seat covers. What pilot wouldn't want the newest craft with all
the modern gadgets?  The answer was, Joe. He did not want anyone taking away
the helicopter that he had been so accustomed to. 

That helicopter had gone through a lot with Joe and some of those
experiences have already been sited here. One thing he liked was the ability
to make the fuel mix richer in some way that a pilot reading this would
understand. I didn't, but, understood that Joe had ways of making his craft
do things it was not necessarily intended to do.

Ceremonies were scheduled to take place at the harbor. The Mayor and other
dignitaries along with the President of Enstrom, F. Lee himself, would make
the presentation of the new chopper to Joe. 

It appeared that the only person who would not be there was Joe Green.

My job: "You had better get Joe on the phone and get him down there".

I reached him at his home and after expressing some understanding for his
situation and a great deal of panic on my part, he agreed to take part and
accept something he did not consider a favor and certainly not a gift.

Somewhere there is a publicity shot of Joe from a low angle shooting up into
his bearded and determined looking face as he sat behind the controls in one
of the helicopters.  I don't remember whether it was the old one or the new
Enstrom. To me, he appeared heroic in that picture. One of a kind.  And of
course he was. Joe was truly a legend. 

Ira Apple

-----Original Message-----
From: boston-radio-interest-bounces@rolinin.BostonRadio.org
[mailto:boston-radio-interest-bounces@rolinin.BostonRadio.org] On Behalf Of
Eli Sherer
Sent: Friday, May 05, 2006 5:25 PM
To: boston-radio-interest@rolinin.bostonradio.org
Subject: Joe Green - RIP and others...

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