PNP - flying cats

Skywalker

Skywalker

Cleared for Takeoff
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Aug 27, 2010
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Novi, MI
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Skywalker
We did another Pilots N Paws flight: Three cats (Adam, Benjamin and Missy) needed a flight from New York City to Flint, MI and we took over the second leg from Niagara Falls (KIAG) to Flint (KFNT). On Friday (6/24/2016) we flew after work from Detroit to KIAG and met with the pilot who did the first leg at around 10:30 pm, loaded the precious freight into the Cessna, made a quick run to the restrooms and off we went. Though the cats were in cardboard boxes only, the boxes looked intact.

On take off roll Oliver said, the two cats are out of their box that they had shared... And they started roaming around in the Cessna! We already figured that it doesn't make sense to force them back in the box and we had no bigger concerns at that point as we could easily guide them where we wanted them to be. After they had inspected the Cessna, they decided, it is time to cuddle with us. After cuddling intensely with Oliver they settled in with me. :):D

Cuddling with Oliver

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Relaxing on their box

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Cuddling with me

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Our biggest concern was that they will run all over the place during landing even though they were very relaxed during the flight. Oliver's task therefore was to keep them under control. It turned out that Adam & Benjamin got very interested in the lights that past by on the ground. They were sitting on their box, paws on the window sill and their noses pressed to the window and remained sitting like that until we shut down the engine in the parking area.

Flying Adam and Benjamin put flight entertainment to a whole new level and we even missed cuddling with them on our final leg home. :D We would have adopted them in a heartbeat, but our two cats would not approve any furry additions to the family. :(
 
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Feeling rather thick . . . like I should be able to figure it out . . . but what is a PNP flight?
 
PNP = Pilots N Paws - I did change it in my post.

In a nutshell: Pilots N Paws is a non-profit organization that organizes flights for pets from shelters to their new families or other rescue organisations. Pilots donate their time and plane to do the flights. It's a lot of fun, you meet a lot of nice people and it's a perfect reason to go flying. :):D:cool:

You find more information here: http://www.pilotsnpaws.org

Martina
 
PnP is a great way to build XC time. As Martina said, you get to meet some awesome folks and do your part to help worthy small animals get to a fur-ever home.

Awesome story and photos. I've done about 50 dogs so far, but only 3 cats. None were calm enough as Adam and Benjamin to be out of their crate. But I'd love to have one sit on my lap or shoulder while I fly.
 
Congrats. I've not had the chance to fly cats. I've helped with a lot of dogs... 28 this weekend (all puppies, of course.)
 
Puppy smell when playing and cuddling......good.

Puppy farts at 8000' MSL....not so good
 
They sure look like cuddle bugs! Good job on getting them to their destination.

We transport for Mid-Atlantic English Springer Spaniel Rescue, it's been a blast. Haven't transported any cats, yet.
 
I fly a lot of pups but haven't had a chance to fly a cat.
I always wondered whether a cat would behave better out of a cage rather than in it. This is good proof that SOME cats can handle freedom with grace. I can imagine y'all had a blast.
Got a video by any chance?
 
Our cat - dog ratio is currently 11 : 1! :) All cats behaved very well (the one dog did too :D) during the flights, however Adam & Benjamin were really unbelievable cute and well behaved. There wasn't even a drama when we put them into the transport box the lady provided upon our arrival in Flint. I have to look for more pictures and I also have one that shows the small hole they managed to escape from.

There is no video :( as it was a night flight and our mobile phones had already trouble taking those pictures.
 
Those two keep it up, they could displace Iris the Bengal cat on YouTube (another cat who likes flying in Cessnas)
 
Thanks for sharing! PNP is an awesome cause.
 
Iris is / was a cool cat! Those two had only a very short interest in the dashboard and were than more interested in cuddling.

Here are more pictures of the flight:

On the right bottom you see the hole (behind Adam's tail), Adam & Benjamin used for their escape:

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Time to cuddle:

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Flight entertainment on a whole new level. :):D We hope that they find a new home together very soon.
 
Having a cat loose in the cockpit is probably a bad idea. When I moved to my new home my cat went bonkers and dashed around inside the auto and tried to exit through the windshield scratching the **** out of the dash.
 
You can be rest assured that we didn't plan to have those anywhere outside their box. We have cats ourselves and I wouldn't even dream of having them outside their box while driving to the vet or somewhere else. That's why we had concerns at the beginning what to do best.

It turned out that Adam and Benjamin were VERY relaxed and they settled down very quickly once they had checked out the plane. Cuddling was their main desire during the two hour flight.

It's a pity that we don't have any picture of them sitting on their box, pressing their noses to the window to get a better view at the lights during the approach and landing. It was hilarious seeing them like little kids at the window.

Martina
 
Well done! :)

I've transported a few hundred cats. Cardboard boxes are useless for them, they inevitably will get out and have the result you observed. Cats are also usually less willing to share crates with others (unlike dogs, which typically just curl up together and nap), so I typically will try to keep all cats in individual crates.
 
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