I had no idea this was Joe's last day. Best of luck to him. Joe could be ornery, but he was one of the few mainstream media people who could cover air travel in a way that was reliably accurate and non-sensationalist.

And you may not know: Joe was a passenger on board the Legacy business jet that was involved in the deadly midair collision over the Amazon a few years back. He once described the accident to me -- how it felt, what it sounded like, etc., -- and it was pretty spellbinding.


-- Patrick Smith