Cloud Nine Rescue Flights

This was another successful transport from Animal Adoption League in Rock Hill, SC transported up to Animal Care Sanctuary in East Smithfield, PA and Manchester Animal Shelter in Manchester, NH. Kylie Troy from AAL had a need to get 13 dogs to Manchester Animal Shelter, and another 3 to Animal Care Sanctuary.

You may recall that in late 2009, Cloud Nine received a grant from the ASPCA. In January we had our first flight that was made possible from this grant. The grant was generous enough to cover more than one flight, and this is the second flight that was made possible by ASPCA. I’d like to extend my sincere thanks for their generous grant. Without it, these 16 dogs would not have been transported to safety.

February and March can make for interesting winter weather, especially in the northeast. The flight down to Rock Hill on Friday was easy, but the flight up north on Saturday was going to be more challenging. The weather and forecasts showed for strong winds out of the east around Philadelphia and New York City area with heavy precipitation. Up in Manchester, things were supposed to get better by the arrival time. We loaded up the dogs, and took off into the clear blue sky.

Just as predicted, by Philadelphia the weather starting worsening. A few deviations around the worst of it allowed us to keep a mostly straight line through the Philadelphia and New York City area, keeping for an efficient route. We even managed to get some good tailwinds for part of it! By Manchester, however, things had not improved as forecasted. After landing there, I decided that it was a better move to spend the night and return the next day. Adam Bezanson, a friend of mine up there and Cloud Nine Connection pilot, was kind enough to let me spend the night with him, and Manchester Animal Shelter held on to the three dogs going to Animal Care Sanctuary.

The next morning, Adam and I stopped by MAS to pick up the three dogs. They confessed they loved them so much they wanted to keep them, but these dogs were heading to another home. Sunday’s weather wasn’t great either, but it was an improvement over Saturday’s. I ended up flying back into my home base of Williamsport, PA, and ACS drove down to pick them up from Williamsport, as the airport they are based near would not have been accessible with its higher elevation and low clouds looming.

This transport was a good example of Cloud Nine’s capabilities. While most other aircraft were grounded on this day, we were able to comfortably and safely make the trip from Rock Hill to Manchester, and get the remaining three dogs to Pennsylvania the following day. I’d like to thank everyone who helped make this transport, including Animal Adoption League, Manchester Animal Shelter, Animal Care Sanctuary, and Adam Bezanson. I’d especially like to thank ASPCA for their generous grant that allowed this transport to be a reality!

Blue Skies,

-Ted

First I need to apologize for being so far behind on blog entries. I try not to get this far backlogged. March has been a busy month for all of us, but it’s important to sit down and write about our transports. We’ve still been working hard!

After an extremely busy January with 5 transports in one month including our longest yet (out to Utah and California and back), February was slower with one transport. I’ll talk more about that later. February is also the time of the annual Cloud Nine Board of Directors meeting. So, we thought it only made sense to combine the board meeting with a transport, especially since two of Cloud Nine’s board members live in the Carolinas anyway.

On Friday I headed to Philadelphia to pick up Beth Miller, one of Cloud Nine’s board members, and she and I flew down to Rock Hill where we had dinner with Jackie Kyles, another Cloud Nine board member and several other friends of ours. We had a good pre-discussion about what we’d go over in the board meeting, as well as general catching up. Saturday we had a successful board meeting, in which we discussed where we want Cloud Nine to go, and plans for the upcoming year. I’ll go over those a bit more towards the end.

Sunday morning was the transport day. We got to the Rock Hill airport. Kylie Troy of Animal Adoption League had gotten 19 dogs together for this transport, heading off to their forever homes. Whenever I get to the airport to load up this many animals, the question is always “How are we going to make them fit?” Most of the time people who look don’t believe that it will happen, but are then shocked when we comfortably get all the animals in their cages for the flight up north. With the plane properly outfitted, we can very efficiently load the animals in!

The flight up north was a good one that went without issues. I dropped off Beth back in Philadelphia on my way up to New Hampshire where I dropped off most of the animals, and then off to East Smithfield, PA (just a bit north of where I live) for the rest. It was a beautiful flying day, not a cloud in the sky. These animals were very well behaved, and made for an easy transport. After getting them all offloaded, I headed home, pleased with the results of the weekend. 19 lives saved, and a great meeting with other Cloud Nine board members.

I want to talk a bit about how Cloud Nine is structured, as well as our board meeting outcome. Cloud Nine currently has 7 volunteers besides me, including a board of directors and other volunteers. Right now I am the only person flying, and the Aztec is the only plane we fly. As we showed in January, the sorts of transports we perform are growing in size in distance in some cases. In either case, February and March had fewer transports than we would have wanted to perform due to my personal and business schedules getting in the way from what is, and I want to remain, a completely volunteer operation. This is where we need to expand with the purchase of a second aircraft, so that we can get a second pilot up and flying, doubling our capacity for transports. As I said in my last blog entry, we are looking at a $100,000 purchase cost for an aircraft, and then need the donations to keep both aircraft flying. February and March have been very low on donations, which currently threatens our ability to continue performing transports at the level that we have been, much less expand.

Please consider making a donation to help us keep our missions going and saving more lives! As it stands, we are currently unable to fulfill the missions we get requests for, and are consistently scheduled at least a full month in advance, more frequently a month and a half in advance. We need to be able to fulfill more immedate need transports, and not just the scheduled transports that are reserved months in advance. Even if you can only donate $50, over 50% of the total money that Cloud Nine receives comes from donations in the range of $100 or less. On average, each animal costs $130 to transport. Your donation makes a real difference in the lives of the animals we transport!

Blue Skies,

-Ted

He who believes he is too small to make a difference has never tried to sleep while a mosquito buzzes in his ear.  This proverb is a reminder to all of us of the power each of us has to make a profound difference in the lives of animals.  It’s also a reminder that even small actions can have big results.

As anyone who has ever tried to sleep while a dog or cat tries to wake you knows, pets instinctively understand the power of small acts.  They know that a simple wag of their tail can disarm a threat, that their presence alone can heal a person in need, and yes, that a simple wet nose kiss can wake a human no matter how desperately tired that human is!   The power of small acts is one of the most important lessons we can learn from animals.  Whether you volunteer time, money, or supplies to your local shelter, foster a cat or dog, or spread the word about the critical importance of spay and neuter, your actions matter for animals.

Your decision to volunteer as a dog walker at your local shelter could make all the difference for a dog that has never been taken on a walk before. The few cans of food you donate to a shelter may seem insignificant but for the dog and cat whose bellies are full from it, it’s an enormous gesture.  And the spare change you give to help an animal may seem like a drop in the bucket but when it’s added to a thousand other small donations, Cloud Nine can pay for another pet transport flight, a shelter can care for more animals, and more pets can find their forever homes.

And in case you still doubt the power of small acts, the stories of the Cloud Nine alumni below will convince you.  Every single one of these dogs was scheduled to die in an overcrowded shelter simply because there was no space for them.  Some of them had never known what it felt like to have a full belly, to be pet, to play, to see the sunshine, or to romp in the grass.  Some of them were so young when they ended up in the shelter that the only life they knew was the inside of that shelter.

Today, every one of these pets is not only alive but living in loving, permanent families because of small acts taken by regular people.  Some people donated food, some gave money, some gave space, and others gave their time.  As a result, the lives of these pets and the lives of their new families are forever changed for the better. Like the Cloud Nine alumni that came before them, these pets have already returned tenfold the kindness and love given to them from the small acts that changed their lives – small acts that literally gave them new lives.

After her Cloud Nine Rescue flight on January 23, Rayla lived with a foster family for two weeks and was adopted in February along with Montana. Rayla and Montana’s new family is loving, patient, and kind and these pups couldn’t be in a better home!  Rayla and Montana also have a 13-year old (human!) brother in their new family who absolutely loves them and is a constant companion to them both.  Rayla is a quiet and shy pup but she can take her time opening up in her new family.  They said they’ll “patiently wait for Rayla to open her heart and let us in.  She is so sweet and we all look at her longingly to take away her fears and to know she is in a safe, loving home.”

Rayla’s brother Montana is a big, goofy, lovable, playful bundle of energy!  Fortunately, Montana is also a good listener so he can channel all that energy productively – whew!  As soon as Montana arrived at his new home, he made himself at home immediately and he and Rayla bonded right away.  On their daily walks, Rayla and Montana walk right at each other’s side.  Rayla and Montana are so deserving of their amazing new family and of each other!  What a happy update for these pups!

Here’s Reverse the beagle pup with his new Mom!  A picture really does speak a thousand words – Reverse and his Mom look like they couldn’t be more thrilled to have found each other!  And, Reverse has a doggie sibling in his new home, too to keep him busy and teach him the doggy ropes!

Reverse is adorable!  It’s no wonder he found his forever family so soon after his rescue flight!  How could anyone resist those beagle eyes?!  He and his new family are going to have a great time together!

Buddy, another absolutely adorable Beagle pup also found a forever home since his rescue flight in January.  Not surprisingly, just like Reverse, Buddy only had to wait a few days for he and his new family to find each other!

Keebler the poodle, Rayla, Reverse, and Buddy were all on the January 23 rescue flight together.  They traveled all the way from South Carolina to Albany, NY and Manchester, NH to meet their new families and start their new lives.  Keebler found his forever family just a few days after his rescue flight!  He and his new human siblings are so lucky to be able to grow up together!  There’s nothing better than growing up with a great dog, and for Keebler, there’s nothing better than having a new family that loves him and that he’ll be a part of forever!

The January 23 rescue flight was a new start for lots of pups!  Besides the Cloud Nine alumni above, two German Shepherd pups on that flight, Reese and Bear, were adopted the same day they arrived in Manchester, NH!  They’ve been absolutely great since then!  They take walks together, got to play in the snow, and are very happy puppies!

Sprout also flew to his new life that day but he had to wait for his eye and ear infections to get better before he could be adopted.  Fortunately, Sprout healed quickly and only had to wait a few weeks before he went home to his new Mom and Dad and a brand new, happy and healthy start!

Finally, Arizona also left a bad situation and flew into a good one on January 23.  Her new foster family fell in love with her and decided to be her forever family.  Arizona is doing great and she’s also a superstar – she’s got quite a fan base on Facebook!  Here’s her link:  http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30671916&o=all&op=1&view=all&subj=24095273780&aid=-1&id=1584796597

Yes, you read correctly! In our largest and longest flight ever, we transported a 55 dogs over the course of a weekend, going from sea to shining sea and back.

This all started when I received a call from Nancy Miller from Roanoke Chowan Humane Society in North Carolina. They had an unusual request for us – 7 large dogs that needed to get to Best Friends Animal Society in Kanab, UT. For those of you who don’t know about Best Friends, they are the largest animal sanctuary in the country, having hundreds of dogs, cats, horses, rabbits, and all sorts of other animals. Located on several thousand acres in the remote town of Kanab, UT, Best Friends has set the standard for animal rescue sanctuaries across the country. They never give up on an animal, and take many of the animals that are hard to find homes for, yet have a 75% adoption rate. In this case, the animals we transported to Best Friends were all elderly animals who would have been difficult if not impossible to place locally.

We were excited about the prospect of this transport to start out. However, as these things have a habit of doing, it grew and expanded. I received a call from Kim Sill of Last Chance for Animals in southern California. They were trying to organize a transport of small dogs from the San Bernadino area to New York City, and wanted to know if we could help. I told her that it just so happened we were going to be in Utah within two weeks for a transport to Best Friends, and it would be perfect timing to head on to California, load up, and head home! This gave us a relatively small amount of time to get everything together for this transport.

Working with the Cesar and Illusion Milan Foundation, North Shore Animal League, Last Chance for Animals, Animal Advocates Alliance, and the Heigl Foundation, we managed to pull together all the details of this transport (of which there were many!) in a very short period of time. Additionally, at the last minute we received a call from Best Friends about an 8th large dog that needed to be transported from North Carolina to their facility. We happened to have room for this 8th dog, which worked out perfectly as it filled the plane!

This was to be a transport occuring over a total of four days, including two long travel days in which we would transit virtually the entire country from coast to coast. Due to the length of the transport, it presented risks associated with timing as it would not take very much in the way of very bad weather over one part of the country to completely cancel the transport. We went forward knowing that.

I first flew down to Edenton, NC where I spent the night and was to pick up the lucky 7 from Roanoke Chowan Humane Society. The flight down was primarily uneventful. I spent the evening in my hotel room doing flight planning for the next day. It was going to be a very early morning to wake up, and the weather was not going to make this easy. The weather over New Mexico and Utah was my primary concern, and it was forecasted to be perfect. However the weather from South Carolina on to western Texas was going to present challenges. A straight line would go right through a line of severe snow, which we were not going to fly through. A line to the north was also going to get snow quite a ways. A line to the south showed low clouds over Texas and potential for thunderstorms over Mississippi and Louisiana, but overall that looked like it would be significantly more navigable. I chose for that route, and went to bed with my flight plans figured out.

The next morning came early, and we arrived at the Edenton airport well before the sun was up to load up the lucky seven and hit the skies for a long day of flying. Nancy and a number of other volunteers from Roanoke Chowan Humane Society had woken up very early to come, help load, and see us off. Thaddeus Watkins (www.thaddeuswatkins.com) came to take a number of pictures, several of which ended up in a local newspaper article. Several of the pictures in this blog entry were from him. Thanks, Thaddeus!

We loaded up quickly and were off to Rock Hill, SC where I picked up Jackie Kyles, who’s one of Cloud Nine’s volunteers and also Treasurer on the Board of Directors. She had never been on a transport before, and she wanted to come on this one especially. Additionally, Rock Hill was where we picked up the 8th dog to come to Best Friends, which all worked out well. We fueled up, loaded up, and were then off on our way to our first fuel stop in Louisiana.

Thunderstorms were brewing, but thunderstorms are generally something that can be managed with the proper tools. Specifically, you find where the thunderstorms are, and fly somewhere else. After a bit of dodging the big thunderstorm cells, our destination was near and easy to land at. However we saw the last of the storms was heading straight for the airport. We’d be able to land, but then be stuck there for several hours while the storms passed. So, we continued on another 50 miles and were then well past all the storms.

We landed, fueled, and were then on our way for our next stop of Plainview, Texas. There were low clouds over Texas, with high cloud tops. We were going to be stuck in the clouds for quite a while on this leg of the trip. Sure enough, we took off and the next 2 to 2.5 hours we were in the clouds. A bit over an hour out of Plainview, the cloud tops lowered and we broke out above the cloud layer, for a beautiful flight skiing the cloud tops. We went to shoot another approach into Plainview, where they had received freezing rain the previous day. It made for quite a sight, as most of the trees and buildings were iced over. So was the gas pump!

Back in the plane for the third leg of the day, the weather was clearing up substantially. We could see blue sky headed west, and it was supposed to be clear for the reaminder of the flight. Predictions were correct. It was this part of the trip that I was most concerned with having good weather for. When you get into the more mountainous regions of the United States, the flying can get significantly more interesting both from a weather perspective and also from an obstacle and altitude perspective. Fortunately, it was not only a perfectly clear night, but we had the biggest, brightest moon of the year to light up the night for us, making for an easy arrival in Kanab.

We arrived, unloaded the animals, and then promptly grabbed some dinner and went to bed. It was a long day, and Jackie and I were ready for some sleep. The next morning, we got to tour the Best Friends facility. If you ever have the opportunity to, I would suggest going to see it for yourself. They truly have a wonderful facility.

After lunch and meeting with Pat and Jana from Best Friends, Jackie and I hopped back in the Aztec to head to California, enjoying a short flight on a nice, clear day with some beautiful scenery. After getting dinner, we called it a night and decided to get a good night’s rest before the longest and largest transport yet!

We woke up the next morning and got to the San Bernadino airport a bit early to start prepping the plane and staging everything for loading up. Kim and the rest of the crew showed up shortly thereafter, and we began the task of loading all the animals in. California has a huge overpopulation issue with small dogs. In New York City, meanwhile, those dogs are in high demand. This strikes at the core of Cloud Nine’s mission – solving the problem of logistics.

After a bit over an hour of loading, we ended up with 47 dogs in the plane. We fired up the engines, and were then on our way heading east, back to New York. And we were going to do it in a single day!

The weather could not have been better. We didn’t hit a single cloud the entire trip, and we got a slight tailwind that helped make the trip a bit quicker. Fuel stops were in Tucumcari, NM and St. Louis, MO. St. Louis ATC treated us wonderfully, giving us direct to New York almost immediately after takeoff, and actually moved other traffic out of our way so we could climb up to cruising altitude sooner. That was very appreciated for the long route to New York!

We landed late in Long Island, and North Shore Animal League was there to meet us with one of their trucks. At first they couldn’t believe that we managed to fit 47 dogs in the airplane, but that is where Cloud Nine shines – we use every available inch of the plane for cages, which makes for more animals transported! After unloading and talking with them briefly, we were all ready for bed. Jackie and I headed into Manhattan (I’m from New York City originally) and spent the night there. The next morning, I dropped her off at LaGuardia airport for a flight home, and I went to Republic Airport on Long Island for an easy flight back to Pennsylvania. Only a bit over an hour flight? That’s easy!

This transport was a monumental feat, and everyone involved deserves a tremendous amount of thanks. None of us individually could have performed the transport, but working together we pulled it off and made it happen. Thanks to Roanoke Chowan Humane Society, Best Friends Animal Society, Last Chance for Animals, Cesar and Illusion Milan Foundation, the Heigl Foundation, Animal Adoption Advocates, and North Shore Animal League for all working together to make this possible. Thanks also to Jackie Kyles, for coming with me on this transport! I was very glad to have the help and company!

I want to make special note for two groups that helped make this possible. Thanks to two very generous donations, one from the Heigl Foundation and one from Roanoke Chowan Humane Society, this transport was completely funded. This is an especially incredible feat when you consider the length of the transport. Without their help, this transport would not have been possible. We got some words of thanks from Roanoke Chowan Humane Society that I wanted to share:

“After being contacted by Best Friends that they would accept 7 of our dogs, I thought the hard part was over. I thought by posting the needed transport (nearly 2500 miles), there would be many willing, able pilots and ground crews who would jump at the chance to save the Lucky 7. Little did I know how difficult it was for pilots with small planes to make the long trip. After a few weeks of using ever resource I could think of and becoming quite frustrated and discouraged that the transport would not take place, Ted with Cloud Nine Rescue Flights contacted me.
I thought his rescue transport was like some of the others, only able to take 1 or 2 of the dogs, our organization having to co-ordinate ground crews at several locations across the country and still not getting the dogs to there destination. Or maybe there was a mis-communication that these were 7 large breed, adult dogs and not 7 small breed dogs.
Ted told me that he could transport all 7 of the dogs even though they were adult, large breeds and there was such a long distance to travel, all at one time!
Angels travel long distances, through ice storms, heavy winds and many situations on a wing and a prayer, all to accomplish their greater good.. Thanks Ted and Jackie for taking our Lucky 7 on your wings.”

-Nancy Miller, Outgoing President Roanoke Chowan Humane Society

Looking forward, we fully intend on performing more of these transports in the future, and I am currently working with the parties involved to help make that a reality.

It is also becoming clear that, while our venerable Aztec is a perfect airplane for most of our missions, for some of these longer and larger transports over large distances, we will need to upgrade. As such, I now announce Cloud Nine’s official plan to seek funding for an upgraded aircraft that will allow us to transport more animals faster and better handle these sorts of trips. We are searching for a Cessna 421, and are looking for sponsors both large and small to help us raise the necessary funds. Estimated purchase price will be approximately $100,000.  To help or make a donation, click the “Donate” buttons found on our website, http://www.cloudninerescueflights.org/

Blue Skies,

-Ted