Icon Icon
Pilots N Paws
Back in the Saddle to Save Jack

Back in the Saddle to Save Jack

August 7th, 2014 Todd & I started our 33rd Pilots N Paws Rescue at (3M5) Moontown Airport in Huntsville, Alabama, our home base. It’s been a difficult first half of 2014 for the Brooks’ PilotNPaws missions. We try to dedicate the first weekend of the month to a PilotsNPaws trip from North Alabama to the Florida state line, but aircraft maintenance and modifications have taken us out the game for most this year. With our trusty Cessna 182 repaired and freshly painted, we began searching the PilotsNPaws ride board posts for requests we could fill the weekend of August 9th. There was an urgent and immediate request to transport an abused dog named “Jack”. He needed to get to Clearwater as soon as possible for surgery. It would be a worthy trip, but Jack couldn’t wait for the weekend. We continued coordinating for a PilotsNPaws weekend mission when I received a call that my mother fell ill and was admitted to an Ocala FL hospital. Dang it! Another PNP weekend mission cancelled. As a last minute against-the-odds check, we contacted Sasha’s Hope Rescue to see if Jack still needed a lift to Florida, but we had to fly the next day to Ocala (not Clearwater). Jack had not left Jasper, AL yet but was scheduled to begin ground transport the next day. We contacted the pilots that had already volunteered to help Jack. We coordinated with one of the pilots, George Dahlbeck, to meet in Ocala, Florida tomorrow, August 7th, and he would fly Jack to the receiving rescue in Clearwater Florida.

Within a few hours we had added a Pomeranian mix “Coby” from the same rescue that was caring for Jack, and three scruffy little Jack Russell terrier mixes from another rescue, Winfield KnineFriends. The next morning, we left Moontown Airport, AL (3M5) early to meet the sending rescues in Jasper, AL (KJFX). In Jasper, we got our first look at Jack.

Jack was a 20 lb black and white mix with soulful and sad eyes. He had a broken leg and a skin infection. There were wounds on his body. He looked tired, but showed no signs of aggression, mistrust, or fear. We gently loaded him into our airplane with the top half of the crate loose, so we could comfort him if necessary. With the other four passengers loaded we took off for Ocala, a three hour flight. In the air, all the passengers were quiet and content. Jack napped comfortably. Once we arrived in Ocala, we offloaded our passengers to George’s Cirrus. For Jack, we carried him in the lower half of the crate, like a hospital gurney. Then we lifted Jack’s bed to George’s crate half, and finally the crate half with Jack into George’s airplane. The whole time we handled Jack, from Jasper to Ocala, he remained calm and looked as to say “I have no idea what you are doing, or where we are going, but I trust you.”

Our return to our monthly “scheduled” pilotsnpaws missions didn’t turn out as planned, but in the end it was successful. While hearing about Jack’s abuse was infuriating and saddening, it was more heartening and enriching to work with so many good people, from the sending and receiving rescues, to transport coordinators, to veterinarians, and to the pilots who dedicate their time and airplane to such a worthy cause.

 

It feels good to be back in the saddle again.

Good luck to Jack, Coby, and the three scruffy pups.

Todd & Mary Brooks Cessna 182 N2858F

2 thoughts on “Back in the Saddle to Save Jack”

  1. Denise Smith says:

    Thank you for all your hard work. It’s so appreciated by many what you are doing. You are Air Angels !!!!

  2. Lee says:

    Beautiful! Thank you so much for flying them all to a better life

Comments are closed.