IMPORTANT REMINDER FOR RESCUES MAKING REQUESTS!

Guidelines and tips from Pilots N Paws members to help with rescue transports.
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IMPORTANT REMINDER FOR RESCUES MAKING REQUESTS!

Post by admin » Mon Sep 29, 2008 4:37 pm

Hi all,

Thanks to all of you for joining the Pilots-N-Paws group. Working together to save these animals and get them to a safe haven is the goal we all want to achieve.

I felt that I needed to point out that some of the distances you are requesting are simply too far for one small plane pilot to accomplish. I have the average distance stated under guidelines but I feel it needs repeating.

When we think of planes and flying, most of us have jets in mind and picture going across the country in four hours. Well, true, in a large jet you can. But most small planes fly at a little over 100mph, have limited fuel capabilities and therefore the distance they can travel is much shorter then a jet. A good rule of thumb is that most planes have approximately a three hour fly out time. This means that from the point of take-off they can fly to a destination 3 hours away. Some planes are a little more, some are a little less. The mileage covered is normally around 200 to 500 miles depending once again upon the plane.

If you are asking for a flight half way across the country, it is likely that no pilot will answer your request. However, if you see by looking at the pilot board that there are pilots listed in various states along the route you are asking for, by all means ask them if they would consider trying to coordinate a multi-leg flight. These are difficult due to varying weather conditions but not impossible. If you do ask, please have temporary fosters available should an unexpected problem arrive with weather conditons or a mechanical issue with the plane. That way, the animal is always assured that someone along the route will be there to care for the animal.

It is our hope that eventually as more pilots join our cause, we will have a pilot in every state who is willing to help. That will ease the burden of these long distance trips giving us more options for doing a rescue flight in stages. Please keep in mind that pilots are totally controlled by the weather of the day and back-up arrangements should always be made "just in case." This holds true for all plane rescue transports.

Please feel free to jump in on this conversation. Maybe the pilots will have some additional ideas and suggestions for these longer transport requests. We are all still learning from each other.

Thanks,
Debi

Site Admin

catmd22

Re: IMPORTANT REMINDER FOR RESCUES MAKING REQUESTS!

Post by catmd22 » Sun Oct 17, 2010 9:09 am

Hi, I am wondering how to find the map with the pilots on it in the areas needed for transport. I found it once before but no idea how and now can't at all. I am looking for a pilot in the Ohio or WI area, Thanks, Cathy

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Re: IMPORTANT REMINDER FOR RESCUES MAKING REQUESTS!

Post by admin » Sun Oct 17, 2010 11:07 am

catmd22 wrote:Hi, I am wondering how to find the map with the pilots on it in the areas needed for transport. I found it once before but no idea how and now can't at all. I am looking for a pilot in the Ohio or WI area, Thanks, Cathy
Cathy,

The best way is to first make your transport request on the Ride Board:Animals Needing Transport forum section. You do this by logging in, opening that section and clicking on NEW TOPIC after the transport section opens. You will need both sending and receiving zip codes. Fill out all information including sizes, weights of the animals, contact numbers or email, etc. and then click submit. Put the city and state of sending and receiving in your subject line.

Once you have posted your request, go back and open it and you will see mapping options under your subject line. Click on that and choose the pilots along route option. This will show you all the pilots registered along your specific route. You can then contact those CLOSEST to the straight line of the route via the email feature of this board. Just click on the username of the pilot. You will need to do this for each pilot you wish to contact directly. In the past, we allowed emails to be seen on the board but due to spammers who don't have a life, we have had to modify how you can contact each other. I realize it makes it more time consuming, but it is for your protection. If you choose to put your email and phone number in your message, that it totally up to each individual. Just know that it can be seen by others but for most of us, our emails are easily found anyway!

You can also find a list of pilots by using the map on our homepage but that is very slow loading, so many volunteers and pilots which is great, but tedious at times to wait for them all to load and then search through them.

Hope this helps,
Debi

N2522F

Re: IMPORTANT REMINDER FOR RESCUES MAKING REQUESTS!

Post by N2522F » Wed Dec 01, 2010 3:09 pm

Rescuers:

As a pilot, it helps us when you provide the pick-up and destination airports using the four letter identifier (like KTDF) or at least the airport's name. Since we fly to airports, not towns, it makes it easier for us to plan flights. If you just give us a small town name (like Roxboro, NC or Blue Bell, PA) we have to search the maps for the nearest airport.

This is a good web site to help you find airports: http://www.airnav.com

Thanks.

- Mike Young
N2522F

catmd22

Re: IMPORTANT REMINDER FOR RESCUES MAKING REQUESTS!

Post by catmd22 » Wed Dec 01, 2010 4:58 pm

ok good to know thanks although should we still put the city and state in the subject line and then add the airports? thanks

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Re: IMPORTANT REMINDER FOR RESCUES MAKING REQUESTS!

Post by love4k9z » Wed Sep 14, 2011 5:56 pm

I am a rescue needing transport of four 20 ish pound dogs from the Dallas, TX area to Orange County, CA or Ontario, CA. Is this too far of a flight between cities to request? I read the average flight is 200-500 miles, but believe this flight is longer.
Thank you for your help!!!
Laura

HoundSanctuary

Re: IMPORTANT REMINDER FOR RESCUES MAKING REQUESTS!

Post by HoundSanctuary » Sun Nov 30, 2014 9:10 pm

Please forgive me if this has already been addressed. Do any of the pilots here also fly for international airlines or private planes? We rescue abandoned / abused dogs from Spain and bring them back to California. We are desperately in need of assistance. Currently we pay for flight escorts to go pick up and come back with the dogs on commercial flights, but there are not always flight escorts (or flights, or budgets!) available. I would truly appreciate it if anyone flying from Spain to the USA would contact us about possibly escorting for us. Thank you so much.

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Re: IMPORTANT REMINDER FOR RESCUES MAKING REQUESTS!

Post by aa1bflyboy » Wed Jan 07, 2015 1:20 pm

N2522F wrote:Rescuers:

As a pilot, it helps us when you provide the pick-up and destination airports using the four letter identifier (like KTDF) or at least the airport's name. Since we fly to airports, not towns, it makes it easier for us to plan flights. If you just give us a small town name (like Roxboro, NC or Blue Bell, PA) we have to search the maps for the nearest airport.

This is a good web site to help you find airports: http://www.airnav.com

Thanks.

- Mike Young
N2522F
Good points Mike. Another quite frequently missed item is the dog's weight. Our small planes are limited in the amount of weight we can load into our aircraft. This includes the weight of pilot, passengers, flight bag, dog/cat crate, paperwork etc. Oh did I mention fuel? Yes we have to calculate the weight of fuel. Our fuel weighs about 6lbs/gallon.

I've seen requests that come through and might say 6 month old shep-mix. That helps a little but if I knew what the actual weight of each dog/cat is it is far more helpful.

Steve - N641HY
Steve Roberts
AA1B based @ KILG
<200nm VFR dogs under 40lbs

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Re: IMPORTANT REMINDER FOR RESCUES MAKING REQUESTS!

Post by markb1118 » Tue Mar 24, 2015 10:00 am

While we're fairly new to PnP, please allow us to respectfully make some comments for rescues and folks who are first time posters...many of which have been said before.
• First and foremost, thank you for taking part in rescuing these animals.
• The pilots here love animals and love to fly. This is our way of giving back. By and large, we’re folks who work jobs during the week to finance our flying adventures. Some are professional pilots who also fly for fun.
• Please realize that most of the aircraft that fly these missions are small, piston engine, and propeller driven; most have seating for 4 adults, limited range, and can only travel 100-150 mph.
• Weights and sizes of the animals needing transport are very important pieces of information. The names of the organization(s) involved, contact information, back story on the animals and pictures are also appreciated.
• Multiple large animals who are unknown or unfamiliar to each other will not be a good fit for the typical PnP pilot and aircraft. Personally, we will not carry more than 1 large animal un-crated in our aircraft.
• Most successful transports are broken down into 200-250 nautical mile legs. Occasionally pilots will volunteer to fly longer legs or whole missions but don’t count on it. Be prepared to coordinate multiple legs and find multiple pilots. Multiple postings for the individual legs sometimes help.
• A typical small airplane can hold 2-3 (perhaps 4) small to medium cages/crates/carriers. PLEASE keep in mind that the carriers have to fit through the door (either cabin or cargo) of the airplane. Collapsible cages can be put inside flat and then set up once in the cabin.
• There are many pilots who can fly on cloudy days (Instrument Rated), but a good many of us are VFR only. (Visual Flight Rules – we have to be able to see the ground at all times). Weather concerns can be frustrating, especially when trying to coordinate a long distance transport. Don’t be surprised if a transport has to be rescheduled due to the weather.
• Safety is the primary consideration in a pilot’s decisions regarding a flight; for the sake of the passengers (two and four legged), the sake of anyone on the ground, and for their own sake safety always comes first.
Mark B.-VFR-KJNX
We only carry crated/caged passenger, all must have a CVI if required. (133 fur-babies and counting)
Need a health certificate (CVI) for this flight? Find out here:
https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/pet-tr ... pet-travel

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Re: IMPORTANT REMINDER FOR RESCUES MAKING REQUESTS!

Post by wilburwong » Fri Dec 02, 2016 6:58 pm

There are some good points made in the previous posts. I would like to add some from my personal experience.

1. If you can include a photo, this sometimes helps to gauge the dog(s) size(s) and maybe tug at our heart strings some too! We may not be familiar with the breed.

2. If you are requesting an "Urgent" transport and people respond, PLEASE respond back! Lack of response from the requester tends to make it unlikely that I, personally, will respond to that requester in the future. Just common courtesy. You can send us a PM - Private message, text us or just plain call us. I usually include my contact information in my responses.

3. As stated above, realize that most of us are flying single engine planes with 4 seats, try not to ask us to carry more than 2-3 dogs depending upon size. Yes, crates can be helpful, but again, they may not even fit in the doors of our planes.

4. Request for long distances will often go unanswered...you might have to do more work to try and break it up into smaller 200-300 mile legs.

5. Some of the other pilots as well as myself would prefer to have another human on board to assist with animal handling; this may further reduce the number of animals we can transport. Keep in mind, Most animals have never been in a small plane (NOT the same as a car) and some animals may have adverse reactions to the loudness within the cockpit and since we are flying, we cannot try to keep them calm at the same time. In my opinion, this is the single most worrying factor when I am taking on a mission / flight. So far, I have been very lucky, the worst I have gotten is one "passenger" was a barker...

Safe Flying!!
Wilbur Wong
[email protected]
858-254-0825 mobile
KSBP / KSMX

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