Is my request too far?

[esther3647]

We are a small rescue group in Norfolk, VA. We have a 7 yrs old hound who needs elbow replacements. The pioneer of this type of surgery is at the University of Minnesota. We would like to have a consult before subjecting him to this surgery. Is this trip too far?
Esther
Rainbow Animal Rescue
Norfolk, VA

[deeogee1]

Ester,
Your request is a bit long (@ 900 nm). Most pilots volunteer an average of around 200 nm--although some go more, some less. But for the sake of simplicity, this would take a min. of 4 pilots & most likely require an overnight . On the slight chance that someone is traveling that way, you can post the request in the
Ride Board: Animals Needing Transport section, but you might have better luck with a commercial flight or volunteer ground transport.

Joanne

[Eric27]

Rescures, I think most of the pilots looking to help are flying small, single engine planes. If they have a trip from here to there already planned then you might get lucky and be able to get a ride. Some of us are willing to go from here to there, then we have to fly back empty. I'm one of those pilots. I rent a plane and pay by the hour. So I like to reduce my range to about 100 to maybe 150nm. That translates to an hour to an hour and a half each way. When you start looking at a request for a flight keep this in mind. If the transport is going to be a long distance think about overnight stops and layovers that might need to be a day or two. Remember we love to fly and it's great to help save a dog or two, help us help you.

[thyra2793]

Vidalia, GA to Manchester, NH

[Eric27]

My first though is Yes, but if you make your request with several legs it could work. You’re talking about roughly 800 nm, which translates to 8 hours of flying in a Cessna 172. If you plan several legs, each being a separate trip you might be able to get the dog moved. What I mean by this would be at the beginning and end of each leg would be a foster home the dog could stay at for a day or two. This way one pilot could do one leg then maybe a day later another pilot could move the dog to the next. You might get a pilot to do one, two or three of the legs at one time depending on their plane. Or if needed one leg might be a ground transport.

Good luck