The following is a joint-author post. Last Friday, Dan, Milton and I participated in a new (for us) flying mission. Milton kicks off the story and then I’ll pick it up….
To be able to fly an airplane is an honor and a privilege. Over my many years of flying, I have been fortunate to have made some wonderful friends and fly a variety of airplanes. It really is heartening then, when one is able to ‘repay’ all of the joy flying has brought me over the years. This happened last Friday, when my friend Daniel and I flew in Dan’s new ‘baby’, a gorgeous V-tail Bonanza down to North Carolina to rescue two adorable puppies and take them to their new homes in Maine.
Just over a week ago, Dan called me and asked if I wanted to help in this mission. Having recently adopted a puppy myself, I immediately said yes. The idea was for me to fly with our friend Pete, down to North Carolina early Friday morning and fly two rescues back to Linden, NJ, where Dan would then fly them to their new owners in Maine.
The plan, unfortunately began to unravel when the plane I normally fly, a lovely Archer, had an insurance issue and it’s owner could not let anyone other than himself fly it for a week or so. In the end, Dan and I flew to Roxboro, NC in Gigi, his Bonanza. In order to give Dan some rest and me some flight time, I flew the Linden – North Carolina – Linden legs. After a quick flight of 2½ hours or so down to North Carolina, we landed at Roxboro to be met by our contact who had rescued the puppies from a kill shelter locally. She had found Dan through an organization called Paws’n’Pilots (a charity dedicated to linking rescued dogs with pilots who can transport them to their new homes/no-kill shelters (www.pilotsnpaws.org). Having loaded are new charges (half boxer, half bloodhound sisters, called Lilly and Penny), into the airplane, we headed back to Linden. Stopping for some gas at Central New Jersey provided the dogs with a quick stretch of their legs and some fresh air, and then 20 minutes and a very skillful landing at Linden by Dan (there was a horrendous cross-wind), the dogs were half way back to their new homes.
As pilots, we often take for granted, the ability to jump aboard an airplane and fly somewhere for the $100 hamburger. Why not then, fly somewhere and do some good while enjoying ourselves. General aviation sometimes gets a bad ‘rap’ and this is something we can shout from the rooftops about the good general aviation can do.
Pete will take up the story for the pooches final leg of their adventure.
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Back at Linden, Dan dropped off Milton and picked up his wife Gloria and little Aidan, then hopped over to pick me up at Bridgeport for the leg to Maine. Figuring that I would be of more use to Dan on the long leg back from Maine in the evening when he was more tired from a long day of flying, I took the backseat on the ride north. It gave me a chance hang out with my godson, chat with Dan and Gloria and read a book (yes, even in the backseat of a v-tail Bonanza and its characteristic yawing tendencies).
Departing IFR from KBDR, we were cleared up to 7,000 feet but found we were right at cloud level and getting bumped around a bit. Aidan was sleeping through it all like a trooper (that’s my godson!), but it wasn’t that comfortable for the rest of us, so we requested 9,000 feet which put us above most of the clouds and just a few bumps as we flew through wisps here and there.
Because the morning trip to NC had taken a bit longer than anticipated, Dan had worked out with the new puppies owner, Kristina, to meet us in Augusta, ME rather than the extra hour flight time up to Northern Maine Regional/Presque Isle (KPQI). It meant a 4 hour drive for the new owner and her brother Isaac to drive down to Augusta, but they were okay with that (what’s 4 hours compared with the 19 hours each way they would have had to do to NC?!).
Dan made a long slow (200-300 feet per minute) descent into KAUG and a nice touchdown. We unloaded Aidan and the puppies (who were all VERY excited to leave the plane and take care of some business) and snapped some photos as we introduced Lilly and Penny to their new owner and her brother. It was a hugely rewarding sight to see these adorable pups ecstatically greeting Kristina and Isaac, and Kristina laughing as she was swarmed.
After a bit of stretching our own legs, we made the quick hop from KAUG to Wiscasset (KIWI), only 20 miles to the south. Coming in over the town on our approach, we checked the line at Red’s Eats and it didn’t look too long. Once on the ground at KIWI we tied down Gigi and called a cab to take us in to town to get our lobster rolls. Dan and Gloria had not eaten all day, so they were starving. Unfortunately, the line had grown a bit and it ended up being an hour+ wait…but as usual always worth it.
Like many of our trips, meeting local folks really adds some magic to the trip. Our cab driver was a local and a fine arts student, primarily landscape painting. We chatted about his art education to date and plans, and he asked us about flying. I ended up grabbing an extra lobster roll for him, especially as he didn’t charge us the full amount for his waiting time, which was kind of him.
After picnicking at the airplane as the sun set on a beautiful summer day, we fueled the plane and launched into a dark night with a beautiful full moon rising above the horizon in the east. Winging our way home through the much smoother air, chatting and trying to get the heat adjusted properly (Dan and I nearly got crispy in the front, while Gloria was saying it was chilly in the back seat!), we just enjoyed the magic of night flying. Watching the poor folks stretched out along I-95 (you would not believe the Friday night traffic heading north all throughout ME, NH and MA!), we glided along bathed in moonlight.
Too soon (it was only 1.5 hours), we were making our approach into Bridgeport and I was waving to Dan, Gloria and Aidan as they departed for their last leg of a very long day. As Milton indicated above, there was a real satisfaction to pitching in and using our hobby to help others. And it was made even more fun by doing it with friends! (Now if I can only find a group that flies rescued birds of prey to rehabilitation sites…maybe a new organization to start!)
