A Patrick County native who maneuvered a Delta Boeing 737 aircraft through the outer bands of Hurricane Irma said he was just doing his job.

Captain Charles “Chuck” Joyce referred to Delta for information about the Wednesday flight.

Delta’s well-orchestrated flight into and out of Puerto Rico as category 5 Hurricane Irma approached off the island’s east coast captured the imagination of first the Twittersphere, then mainstream media, according to a release at Delta.com.

Joyce was ready for the return flight, 302, in between Irma’s bands. He, the first officer and the flight attendants had full confidence in the forecast, though they were ready for anything. Joyce, who’s been flying 737s for two years, said he reviewed the training manual in his hotel room the night before, just to be sure, the release stated.

Joyce “strapped himself in up in the cockpit and worked his way through the pre-flight checklist” on Wednesday, the Pittsburgh Post Gazette reported. “Passengers ran through an empty airport to board, and the cabin crew got them in their seats and battened down in record time,” the news outlet reported.

​ Joyce piloted the last commercial airline flight out of San Juan, Puerto Rico as Hurricane Irma came barreling over the island, according to reports at www.post-gazette.com.

“As the most powerful hurricane in Atlantic history rolled in over San Juan’s Luis Muñoz Marín airport, flights from other airlines turned back or stayed on the ground, but the Delta flight from New York’s JFK continued on, flying through the outer bands of the hurricane to land, unload its 30 passengers, pick up 173 more, refuel and get back out… while the getting was still relatively good,” according to the news outlet.

In the Delta release, Joyce said “we were prepared for heavy windshear, crosswinds, strong tailwinds, but it was no worse than a summer thunderstorm in Atlanta. Delta Meteorology really did a great job.”

With 173 customers evacuated from the path of a destructive hurricane, the Delta team members moved on with their day. Employees in Atlanta and New York worked the next flights. Those in San Juan went home to protect their homes and families, the release stated.

Soon after, the tweets began circulating thousands of times and the headlines hit the web.

“My brother called me and said, “You’re trending on Twitter!” laughed Joyce.”I told him, I will neither accept the idiocy nor the bravery ascribed to me on the Internet. I was just doing my job,” according to the release.

Joyce, 52, is the son of long time guidance counselor at Patrick County High School, Ella Sue Joyce, and also is related to the Wood Brothers Racing team.