1st Pilots and Paws Flight

PilotRPI

PilotRPI

Line Up and Wait
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Jun 21, 2012
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MA - 1B9
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PilotRPI
Getting ready for my first pilots and paws flight. Two questions:

1: Is a blanket down enough to prevent "accidents" from getting to the interior? They"ll be in crates.

2: Do you use any hearing protection for them? Maybe cotton in the ears? Can't imagine two hours in my 172 as it is very loud.

I'll be putting them in the back after removing the back seat.
 
We always walk the dogs prior to boarding. Only used a crate once when I was by myself. My Bride takes care of the critters.

I put a shipping blanket down with a second blanket they can curl up in. We haven't had any issues to date. Make sure you carry plastic gallon zip lock bags and paper towels 'Just in case'.
 
I usually don't put anything down if they're in plastic crates. If they're in metal crates with holes in the bottom, then yes I would.

Side note: My friend got ramp checked during a PnP flight where he had taken the back seats out of his PA28 Archer. It didn't go well for him...
I have a second W&B, and every time i remove the back seats, I get a new logbook entry from my mechanic.

I don't use any hearing protection. I've found that engine noise usually doesn't bother them, its the altitude alerter "beep" that startles them.
 
When I started flying, we never used headsets. Plenty of 2 hour or longer flights. I think the dogs will be fine.
 
We usually have some blankets on the seats even if we have the dogs in a crate. It is more for our good feeling that we do protect the seats than it would help in the event that an accident would happen. So far we did not had any accidents with any dog or cat we tranported and we certainly hope it stays like this... :redface:

We usually walk the dogs prior to boarding the plane. They love being walked and it is a great opportunity to get a 'connection' with the dog.

We don't use ear protection. After settling into the plane, looking outside for a bit, they usually lie down and sleep until we start the decent into the destination. The larger dogs we don't even have in a crate.

Our precious freight last Saturday (10/08/16) was Molly:

PNP_Molly5.jpg

Two other dogs who flew with us, just after arrival at our destination:

IMG_3545.JPG

Have fun doing your first PNP flight. It will be fun and it is a really got reason to go flying.
 
Since I fly by myself, it's my choice to always have the P-n-P animals in crates. I've never once had a dog do anything other than lay down and sleep during the flight, but I'm not willing to take the chance that one might get wild at a bad time.

Like one of the earlier respondents, I put moving blankets under the crates to catch any "overflows" and to limit upholstery damage from scratching through the crate openings. If the plane gets a little smelly during a flight out, then 160 kts of ventillation on the trip home airs it out nicely.

I know that you can buy hearing protectors for the larger dogs, but don't know of anyone who's actually tried that. Rescue dogs can be pretty amped-up on the ground anyway, and trying to persuade one to wear ear muffs might be way more work than it's worth. It's my impression that the drone of the engine relaxes them and helps put them to sleep. I'm not a vet, but don't think that a couple hours of noise exposure is going to do serious damage to their hearing.
 
Why do you need a new base weight and balance? If i know the weight of the seat (the position in obvious) just treat it as a negative value in the flight w&b and i have a proper calculation, no?
 
Agee with all the comments above on blankets and walking the pups before flights (the rescue orbs should know not to feed them before the flight, but they forget), but I also keep a PnP kit in the plane. Latex gloves, paper towels, puppy pads, Febreeze, and I have had to use all of that on different occasions.
 
PilotRPI said:
Why do you need a new base weight and balance? If i know the weight of the seat (the position in obvious) just treat it as a negative value in the flight w&b and i have a proper calculation, no?
Click to expand...

While you are technically correct, from paperwork perspective, the rear seat is installed, and just like removing any other piece of equipment, needs to be logged as removed and the W&B updated. Most folks who do it regularly have two official W&B depending on configuration.
 
Gotcha. Makes sense. Is removal of the seat something I can do and log, or does an A&P need to do that?
 
It's easy to take a seat out yourself. What I do is I have 2 W&B, i remove the seat, and get my mechanic to sign a logbook entry saying he removed it.
 
Think that's my plan. I'll have him make up a new card and sign my logbook before the weekend.
 
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