Mood somber on Favre's flight home

By Adam Tobias of the Daily Times staff
Thursday, August 7, 2008 12:27 PM CDT

Brett Favre, right, is pictured getting off a Wisconsin Aviation jet Wednesday after leaving Green Bay and arriving at the Hattiesburg-Laurel(Miss.) Regional Airport. Also pictured are Favre’s agent James “Bus” Cook, left, and Lake Mills resident and Wisconsin Aviation Vice President Grant Goetsch, pilot of the aircraft. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

MADISON - Wisconsin has lost a football legend, and apparently former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre isn't too interested in playing with the New York Jets, according to an area pilot who flew with the three-time NFL MVP from Green Bay on Wednesday.

Favre, who was traded to the New York Jets late Wednesday, boarded a Wisconsin Aviation jet in Green Bay earlier in the day and was flown to the Hattiesburg-Laurel Regional Airport, which is near his home in Mississippi.

The plane was piloted by Lake Mills resident Grant Goetsch, the vice president of Wisconsin Aviation, which is owned by Watertown Municipal Airport manager Jeff Baum. Joining Favre on the plane was his wife, Deanna Favre, and his agent, James “Bus” Cook.

Goetsch said Favre was aware on the flight that the Green Bay Packers were actively trying to trade him and that the New York Jets and Tampa Bay Buccaneers were the most likely candidates.

“He knew there was a bidding, he knew that they (Packers) had a higher offer from the Jets and he knew that the Packers wanted him to go to the Jets,” Goetsch said. “He didn't want to really go to the Jets.

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“He and his agent were continually working I'm sure all night talking on and off with the different teams,” Goetsch added. “He was aware of both (teams), but the comment was made that he wasn't as interested in the Jets.”

The plane carrying Favre, his wife and his agent left Green Bay Wednesday at 12:04 p.m. and arrived at Hattiesburg-Laurel Regional Airport about two hours later. Goetsch described the mood in the jet as “somber.”

“While Brett and Deanna, his wife, were out with the group and the cameras getting on board the airplane and the same when we got off at Hattiesburg, they put on a face that they're going to keep moving on and stuff, but in the aircraft it was clearly very somber,” Goetsch said.

“I think it was very surreal for them,” he added. “They really enjoyed Green Bay and I think he wanted to play as a Packer until he really did retire and I think that was all running through his mind. It was a somber trip. There's no better words to describe it.

“The main thing is it was a finality thing where everybody in the plane knew it was a final period in the history of a good thing that was going on in Green Bay,” Goetsch said. “That trip was very much a finality for how things were going to be viewed from then on for each party.”

Even with Favre being traded to the Jets, Goetsch said Wisconsin Aviation still plans on flying Favre and his family, but it will be in different capacities.

“I suspect there will be opportunities when they come up and play the Green Bay Packers for instance and the family will want to come up to see the game,” Goetsch said. “I'm sure there may be an opportunity to fly them up during other events, typically when things settle down there will be times when the Packers will want to have him as an honorary whatever.

“They (the Favres) have friends they have developed up in the Wisconsin area and he's a hunter,” he added. “I suspect there will be some (flights), but it won't be the same as it has been in the past.”

Goetsch, who manages the Wisconsin Aviation facility at the Dane County Regional Airport in Madison, said he has flown with Favre several times over the years and that the quarterback is generally friendly.

“He's fairly quiet, but I think over the years he's learned to be more vocal,” Goetsch said. “If you're talking about football he likes to talk about football, but for the most part he tries to keep to himself.

“When the press is out there they get their digs in and I think he likes to relax on the flight,” he added. “He lets his hair down, he kicks back and relaxes and he loves doing crossword puzzles on the airplane.”