Joe Green - RIP and others...

[Eli Sherer]

That would have been his old Bell 47.... I remember the big  WBZ 
fixed floats on that one too.

Joe rarely flew in a backup machine because a) he never let it be 
down for maintenance, and b) he didn't like flying without the 
floats. Maybe it was because he knew he took some risk and didn't 
want to drop into Boston Harbor without them, or maybe because he 
enjoyed the recognition of having the call letters emblazoned across 
the machine (and he often flew much lower than the "standard" 500 
feet in Boston).

The time I flew with him, it was hot as hell in that Enstrom... but 
Joe kept his shirt on... Not often the case in the summer when he 
could be seen (or more accurately from the ground, not seen), flying 
in shorts and no shirt... but that damn helmet and a cigar!

At 08:13 PM 5/5/2006 -0400, iraapple wrote:
>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

-Eli