First time, busy weekend

Heartwarming photos and videos of our rescued friends.
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CitrusCountyPilot

First time, busy weekend

Post by CitrusCountyPilot » Mon Aug 24, 2009 10:06 am

Hi, we did a couple of flight this weekend, picked up 4 dogs in Birmingham Alabama and flew them to St Petersburg
delivered to new owners st pete.jpg
delivered to new owners st pete.jpg (163.82 KiB) Viewed 720 times
, Sunday picked up two labs and flew them to Brooksville.

These were my first flights flying dogs, and it was interesting.

For Pilots:

Weather in central FL and south GA/AL was not real great Satuday. I wanted to go VFR and we took off below low clouds at 1500' . Went north till it cleared up some, maneuvered around a couple of small T storms moving in from the Gulf, hit another wall of low scud south of Tallahassee, went over it. We had a fuel stop planned in SW GA, but all stations in GA at that hour of the morning was IFR, so we decided to fuel up in Dothan, which was reporting and forcecast VFR. About an hour a way, Dothan went IFR with low cielings. I filed IFR in the air and we pickup our clearance near Tallahassee. Shot the ILS in Dothan, breaking out about 1000'. Gased up, and took off under an IFR flight plan to Bessemer. En route we crossed the frontal boundary and things got clear - and alot of cooler! Took on our canine passengers in Bessemer, and flew back to Florida with a fuel stop in TLH. Got an updated brieding there, and a line of T storms were coming in from the Gulf south of Cross City. We decided to delay a bit , and after about an hour it looked like the storms were starting to thin out, so we decided to launch, and if necessary, stop in either CTY or CGC, but, the storms thinned out more, and we were able to get down to St Peter VFR albeit, like the morning, at 1500'.

Sunday, picked up a couple of labs in Bainbridge. No trouble going up, coming back another line of T storms was moving through the Tampa area which effectively blocked getting to Tampa Executive (FKA as Vandenburg), out intended destination, so I called the person picking them up if they would not mind meeting us in Brooksville to the north. Took off, climbed to 5500', it was calm and cool. Passed through a couple of light rain showers nearing Brooksville, otherwise, uneventful.

FOR Everyone:

Both flights, the dogs were great. They were just so happy to see a friendly face, looking for someone to take care of them. For the most part they snoozed, a few were anxious during take off and taxi. For the most part, the animals held their bladders, all held their bowels, until we reached St Peter, and what a spectacle that was watching all of them piddle and dump on the ramp as soon as they got out of the plane, really funny. One piddled in his crate, I was very very glad I had spread tarps over the inside of the plane and had absorbent mats. It was kind of smelly. This AM I have got the crates and tarps hanging in the wind, washed and hosed down, trying to air the smell out. Need to take some kind of deodorizer in them plane next time.

However, all of that aside, it was extremely rewarding, the animals were overjoyed to have new homes, really felt like I had done some good. The long flight, esp Saturday, was exhausting, and I slept very well. I'm looking forward to the next flight

Jon

Re: First time, busy weekend

Post by Jon » Mon Aug 24, 2009 2:32 pm

Fnatastic. With each flight it gets better. I am still learning.

I use a large bath towel in the bottom of every crate to absorb any accidents, and if there are any I just wipe up the crate if needed and place all the towels in a black plastic bag and seal it until I can get it home and washed.

I also spray each crate with a disinfectant after every flight. If the crates get soiled I hose and wipe them clean.

The animals from time to time will have accidents, but using hard side crates and some absorbing towels in the crates makes the occasional accident a non event.

Great story. Keep posting.

Percy's Place

Re: First time, busy weekend

Post by Percy's Place » Sun Aug 30, 2009 9:12 am

Great job. It is always nice when we help the animals in need. I look foward myself to being able to help where I can.

Lori

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