Anyone carry their pet birds with 'em?

Jim_R

Jim_R

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Jim
I used to carry my pet parakeet with me in the car all the time. That little guy's gone to great seed cup in the sky, but one of these days I'll have another small bird, and won't want to leave him behind when I head to family holiday gatherings for a week or two.

Anyone have any experience carrying pet birds on piston singles? My bird actually seemed to enjoy car rides (he'd voluntarily fly down into his travel cage when he saw me prepping it for a trip), but I'm not sure how he'd have done in a small plane.
 
Giving a bird an airplane ride just doesn't seem right for some reason...
 
There's a guy based in NJ who's posted YouTube vids of him flying with his small parrot? Parakeet? sitting on his shoulder... the bird remains very calm, and seems to enjoy the view. Can't for the life of me remember enough to do a quick search for it, but it shows it can be done. I guess it depends on the bird, and I don't know if he started out with it in a cage, or what.
 
I've flown caged birds on more than one occasion with no problems.
 
Evidently it's not uncommon. Last week a guy flipped me one when I changed lanes unexpectedly.
 
:rofl:

This would have been a good post on April 1. But seriously, are you worried about the noise? Because the bird is probably not going to be to be scared of heights, I don't think.
 
My primary concern is noise-related: I'm worried that prolonged exposure to the noise of a typical piston single engine would be pretty harmful.

A secondary concern is that the unfamiliar environment and noise would stress the bird and also lead to health issues. My experience is that you'd need to evaluate each bird individually to determine that, but hearing about others' experiences would be helpful, especially if anyone came up with clever ways to make the environment less stressful.

A tertiary concern would be the effect of turbulence. The thought of a bird being slung around inside a cage like a ping pong ball in a dryer is not pleasant. However, after 220 hrs of flying I don't think I've experienced turbulence that would have dislodged my parakeet from his perch, so I consider it a risk but not necessarily a show-stopper.

Henning, were your bird transports one-time deals (like delivering birds from seller to buyer), or repeat trips with the same bird(s)?
 
Thanks, G. Do you happen to know what kind of bird?
 
I used to transport them for a friend who bred parrots, just toss a sheet over the cage and they were all quite fine at the other end.
 
rottydaddy said:
There's a guy based in NJ who's posted YouTube vids of him flying with his small parrot? Parakeet? sitting on his shoulder... the bird remains very calm, and seems to enjoy the view. Can't for the life of me remember enough to do a quick search for it, but it shows it can be done. I guess it depends on the bird, and I don't know if he started out with it in a cage, or what.
Click to expand...
Shiver me prop blades, ATC has me bobbin' in a holdin' pat-ernnnn harrrrrrr
Sorry, I couldn't resist.
 
I vaguely recall a guy I knew from Toledo and Put-in-Bay who flew with an African Grey in his Aztec. Rumor has it the bird was a pretty good traffic spotter....
 
Sorry, couldn't resist:

You have 100 birds sitting on perches in cages in your airplane. They each weigh 0.25 lbs. for a total of 25 lbs. As you begin your takeoff roll the birds are startled and begin to fly around in their cages. While all the birds are flying around is your airplane's gross weight 25 lbs. lighter than before the takeoff roll startled all the birds?
 
DrMack said:
Sorry, couldn't resist:

You have 100 birds sitting on perches in cages in your airplane. They each weigh 0.25 lbs. for a total of 25 lbs. As you begin your takeoff roll the birds are startled and begin to fly around in their cages. While all the birds are flying around is your airplane's gross weight 25 lbs. lighter than before the takeoff roll startled all the birds?
Click to expand...

Only if the airplane is not pressurized.
 
DrMack said:
Sorry, couldn't resist:

You have 100 birds sitting on perches in cages in your airplane. They each weigh 0.25 lbs. for a total of 25 lbs. As you begin your takeoff roll the birds are startled and begin to fly around in their cages. While all the birds are flying around is your airplane's gross weight 25 lbs. lighter than before the takeoff roll startled all the birds?
Click to expand...


Same same, the lift is still being transferred through the air column into the cage and airframe to the greater air column to the surface of the earth.
 
I based my answer on the OP's plane, a piston single, and assumed it wasn't pressurized. While a non-pressurized plane isn't airtight (that would result in the weight being the same regardless of flight condition of the birds) I does hold SOME pressure. That is my basis the the plane would weigh SOMEwhat less than if the birds were all perched.

Mensa member and super genius,
Captain.


PS, even a pressurized plane leaks (save except the space shuttle perhaps) so my answer it true even in a B-747, A-380, G-550 or any other jet out there.
 
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ummm....no, that's...ahh...normal.


:rolleyes:
 
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