First PnP mission - Yeaaa!

JCranford

JCranford

En-Route
Joined
Mar 8, 2015
Messages
2,632
Location
North TX
Display Name
JCranford
Home Airfield
KDTO
Finally found a Pilots and Paws mission that worked for my schedule. Flew Cali, 6 month old female GSD down to Katy (near Houston) to catch a ride with two other dogs. She was headed to her forever home in IL. She rode in the plane great, never made a sound, and snoozed in the back seat most of the ride.

If you do one of these make sure the person on the other end, if not a pilot, understands which airport you're flying in to...

After we dropped her off we flew into Lone Star Exec and had lunch at Black Walnut Cafe. Great food!
 
PnP trips are just about the most rewarding flying there is! Glad you guys got to do one!
 
Awesome!

I have a collection of crates of various sizes when you need them for future missions.
 
AggieMike88 said:
Awesome!

I have a collection of crates of various sizes when you need them for future missions.
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That reminds me...I need to go out to the hangar and clean the crates, been really dusty out there lately. I wait to sterilize (spray with bleach then wash them out) right before a flight. I also keep a big bag of towels at the hanger.
 
I have a dog crate and maybe some cat crates I can donate.
 
JCranford said:
Finally found a Pilots and Paws mission that worked for my schedule. Flew Cali, 6 month old female GSD down to Katy (near Houston) to catch a ride with two other dogs. She was headed to her forever home in IL. She rode in the plane great, never made a sound, and snoozed in the back seat most of the ride.

If you do one of these make sure the person on the other end, if not a pilot, understands which airport you're flying in to...

After we dropped her off we flew into Lone Star Exec and had lunch at Black Walnut Cafe. Great food!
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Nice.
 
One of my favorite flights for lunch! CXO is a great little place.
 
I was a planned leg for a PnP flight today. Low ceilings and snow, and marginal vfr. I canceled as I wasn't comfortable with the snow and low clouds over the mountains. Had a lady get all ****y with me via email for canceling. I'm not about to auger in to a hillside. I've never flown through snow. Freezing level was low enough to cause a problem. Other pilot seemed to agree.

This is the first bad experience I have ever had with these trips. I've flown 12 trips and have found it to be very rewarding as well but this has left a bad taste in mouth. I've met many wonderful people doing these. Except for this lady.
 
tree96 said:
I was a planned leg for a PnP flight today. Low ceilings and snow, and marginal vfr. I canceled as I wasn't comfortable with the snow and low clouds over the mountains. Had a lady get all ****y with me via email for canceling. I'm not about to auger in to a hillside. I've never flown through snow. Freezing level was low enough to cause a problem. Other pilot seemed to agree.

This is the first bad experience I have ever had with these trips. I've flown 12 trips and have found it to be very rewarding as well but this has left a bad taste in mouth. I've met many wonderful people doing these. Except for this lady.
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I've watched for legs I could fly, but not being IR, have yet to commit due to uncertain MAV/MOS forecasts. Always wondered what the consequences would be to NO GO on a planned PnP. Care less about a .....y lady, than about leaving a dog stranded somewhere. Advice?
 
tree96 said:
I was a planned leg for a PnP flight today. Low ceilings and snow, and marginal vfr. I canceled as I wasn't comfortable with the snow and low clouds over the mountains. Had a lady get all ****y with me via email for canceling. I'm not about to auger in to a hillside. I've never flown through snow. Freezing level was low enough to cause a problem. Other pilot seemed to agree.

This is the first bad experience I have ever had with these trips. I've flown 12 trips and have found it to be very rewarding as well but this has left a bad taste in mouth. I've met many wonderful people doing these. Except for this lady.
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There are many who forget to read the policy section that a pilot my and can cancel at limited notice due to weather or safety of flight reasons or anything else for that matter. And that alternate means of transport should be considered/arranged.

Your experience is one reason I prefer to only fly for a small number of coordinators. These folks do a good job and understand when circumstances require cancellation.
 
wrbix said:
I've watched for legs I could fly, but not being IR, have yet to commit due to uncertain MAV/MOS forecasts. Always wondered what the consequences would be to NO GO on a planned PnP. Care less about a .....y lady, than about leaving a dog stranded somewhere. Advice?
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Basically you have to manage the expectations of these folks. It's not like jumping in a van and driving through whatever to get the dogs to their destination.

I generally work with the same rescue groups so they know what I can (and cannot do). They know that wx, mx, illness, whatever can cancel a trip at the last minute.
 
evapilotaz said:
Are these PNP flights on your dime or are you compensated some how.
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PnP flights are nearly always a volunteer flight where the pilot is footing the bill. But many of the better organized rescues are 503(c) organizations that will supply the appropriate documentation on request.
 
JCranford said:
Finally found a Pilots and Paws mission that worked for my schedule. Flew Cali, 6 month old female GSD down to Katy (near Houston) to catch a ride with two other dogs. She was headed to her forever home in IL. She rode in the plane great, never made a sound, and snoozed in the back seat most of the ride.

If you do one of these make sure the person on the other end, if not a pilot, understands which airport you're flying in to...

After we dropped her off we flew into Lone Star Exec and had lunch at Black Walnut Cafe. Great food!
Click to expand...

Congrats! Animal rescue flights are very rewarding.


AggieMike88 said:
.......Your experience is one reason I prefer to only fly for a small number of coordinators. These folks do a good job and understand when circumstances require cancellation.
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That is why I only fly for the Mid Atlantic English Springer Spaniel Rescue. No pressure, plenty of ground pounders if needed. I had a wx issue and decided to drive the dog to Richmond VA. I was north of Baltimore Maryland coming from Wilmington delaware and the coordinator had drivers line up to take over the run. Great group!

Our recent rescue - http://gmflightlog.blogspot.com/2015/11/lucy-finds-her-forever-family.html
 
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AggieMike88 said:
Your experience is one reason I prefer to only fly for a small number of coordinators. These folks do a good job and understand when circumstances require cancellation.
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yes, that ^^^^^

Also the reason why I won't fly trips that involve over two legs...three on the very outside. Too long of a distance = too much that can go wrong + bigger chance of running into a front somewhere. Too much pressure to do something stupid and I'm stupid enough without pressure.
 
AggieMike88 said:
PnP flights are nearly always a volunteer flight where the pilot is footing the bill. But many of the better organized rescues are 503(c) organizations that will supply the appropriate documentation on request.
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true....PnP is one of those well organized and legit 503 (c) orgs.
 
Congratulations and thank you for saving a pup!

Yes, many PnP flights are 503c but not all. Be careful, some are simply transport requests by dog owners, not charities, kennels or rescues.

And please do keep in mind that while many rescuers have big hearts and lots of love for all living creatures, they are not pilots (so speak plain English to them) and often not great at math (so you might want to be patient while explaining timing, multiple legs, crate sizes etc).

All-in-all, it is a great and rewarding experience to fly pups, I can't get enough. Hoping to find another one soon.

Thanks again for helping! :thumbsup:
 
I occasionally look for a pnp mission that's not stupid out of my way, but they're usually taken already. I'm just glad they have enough help that they're usually not begging!
 
mkosmo said:
I occasionally look for a pnp mission that's not stupid out of my way, but they're usually taken already. I'm just glad they have enough help that they're usually not begging!
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There have been a few this past week that originate in Houston. So keep looking.
 
Badger said:
true....PnP is one of those well organized and legit 503 (c) orgs.
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Some "in the know" would dispute that assertion but I won't go into it. However, I don't give them money so I really don't care if/how they waste it. I simply fly dogs and use PnP as an avenue to do so.

My main complaint is that they don't adequately screen the ride requests/requesters so you'll run into people who are gaming the system. There are a fair amount of for-profit breeders pretending to be rescues, etc.

Their ride request forum is a free-for-all and one must be careful.

Early on my strategy was that if neither the sending or receiving party was a 501(c)3 then I moved on. But after a few dozen flights, I've developed a relationship with a handful of quality rescues and tend to fly only for them.
 
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evapilotaz said:
Are these PNP flights on your dime or are you compensated some how.
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According to the FAA you're being compensated just by putting the hours in your logbook, even if you paid for them, but they've kindly waived the rule for certain special groups of people they deem worthy of using their private aircraft for private purposes.

Confused yet? ;)

:popcorn:
 
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