Flying with dogs and engine noise

Deelee

Deelee

Pattern Altitude
Joined
Feb 12, 2019
Messages
1,783
Display Name
Display name:
Deelee
I have read some threads about pros and cons of flying with dogs regarding the safety of it... like making sure mans best friend is not jumping all over the place distracting the pilot.

My question is - for those of you who do fly with your dog - what do you do about the noise? I just bought a pair of Lightspeed Zulus to protect my human ears from the loud drone of the 172's engine. What about dog ears? Aren't they more sensitive? Or do they not mind the roar of the engine?

(this is a serious question, but I'm not planning to fly with our family dog. I'm just trying to settle a friendly disagreement with my wife on this)
 
Mine don't seem to mind. It's the loud, percussive sounds, like gunshots, that they don't like.
They are fine with airplane noise.
9f5d095c812861dc29d2128939ac3269.jpg


Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
 
They don’t care

And my type is not known to be a quiet airframe
 
Ours doesn't like takeoff and the base turn to landing. In cruise prefers to be down on the floor. I'm thinking he doesn't like the noise or vibration. But afterwards he seems fine and always jumps right back if he thinks we are leaving. Exactly like a car ride.

His favorite moment is cracking the window open right after landing and all fresh air and smells. Once again, exactly like a car ride.
 
I'm glad someone started this thread.. I've been thinking/worrying about the same thing. Our German Shepherd passed away two years ago (STILL recuperating from that .. WHY is it so hard?... almost ready to get another one.. we've had three over the past more than three decades), but we still have a Chihuahua that was our shepherd's best friend and almost took him flying a few days ago. Didn't, because we were worried about his ears. Of course, maybe it'd be like revenge after having to listen to all his yappin'... ;)
 
MuseChaser said:
I'm glad someone started this thread.. I've been thinking/worrying about the same thing. Our German Shepherd passed away two years ago (STILL recuperating from that .. WHY is it so hard?... almost ready to get another one.. we've had three over the past more than three decades), but we still have a Chihuahua that was our shepherd's best friend and almost took him flying a few days ago. Didn't, because we were worried about his ears. Of course, maybe it'd be like revenge after having to listen to all his yappin'... ;)
Click to expand...

Depends on when you start them, mine flew from a few months old and was around guns, though inside a car, from a pup, he doesn’t care about planes, guns, 4th of July, nothing really, pretty zen, just depends on how early you introduce them to said thing, one of my exs has a pup who was never around planes, forget taking that pup up
 
I know when we chartered a DHC-3 Otter to drop the family and a kitchen sink off at a remote cabin to fish my black lab was shaking. Tami took a headset and held it on the dogs head.

Of course the Otter had a 600 hp R-1340 Pratt & Whitney radial engine. Boy that engine was noisy. Seems like all the Otters have been converted to turbo props here.

I'm sure there is some sort of ear protection for dogs out there.
 
AKBill said:
I know when we chartered a DHC-3 Otter to drop the family and a kitchen sink off at a remote cabin to fish my black lab was shaking. Tami took a headset and held it on the dogs head.

Of course the Otter had a 600 hp R-1340 Pratt & Whitney radial engine. Boy that engine was noisy. Seems like all the Otters have been converted to turbo props here.

I'm sure there is some sort of ear protection for dogs out there.
Click to expand...

Most of it is just to make YOU feel good, the dog meh
 
James331 said:
Most of it is just to make YOU feel good, the dog meh
Click to expand...

My 90 lb German Shepherd LOVED flying. Eng noise lulled him to sleep. He had plenty of room in my seneca II and never cared to come forward. On arrival to small, not busy uncontrolled fields he would get out and chase birds to his heart’s content. I’d bring his water bowl, let him drink as much as he wanted and flew home. Out of my six kids he was frequently the only one that showed any interest in flying with me. Once home and fed he would sleep like a lamb all night. Great memories. His name was Daiquiri/called him DAK for short. Wonderful dog.
 
wrbix said:
View attachment 77793 I prefer to protect their hearing...
Click to expand...

Both of the English springer spaniels we’ve had in the family in their old age went deaf for the last few years as they got older. Neither of them were in an airplane, or exposed to loud noise for any length of time, but was just thinking that even if the dog doesn’t seem to be bothered by the noise, it might do harm so this seems like a great solution.
it might not b a problem, I don’t know if dogs can get tinnitus, or if it can lead to them going deaf but it is not a natural sound they would b exposed to. Just a thought.

Dogs are more sensitive to noise, and while humans have a “range” of up to 20,000 hz, dogs can hear up to 100,000 hz. Of course, I can’t hear anywhere near 20,000 even, maybe could when I was a kid, but not for many decades, maybe the same in dogs as they age. Still, we aren’t hearing what they are. I’ve wondered even if alarm systems in the house maybe giving out constant high freq. that we can’t hear but may be bugging the hell out of our dogs. But in an airplane, anyone know the range of dB and freq. present?

not just alarm systems but many of our electronics, I wonder what dogs are hearing in our modern households. Guess I could get a freq. analyzer or app for that to check out.
 
Last edited:
We use mutt muffs but our black lab still doesn’t really love flying. She seems a lot happier when we take the time to make her a comfortable bed, but I don’t think she likes the noise.

I wouldn’t be quite so dismissive about the noise as some of the posters here. We happened to take an audiologist friend on a flight for breakfast and she had a decibel reader on her phone. She measured our Cessna’s interior cabin noise at 97 decibels during cruise - not enough for immediate hearing damage, but definitely enough for damage over time (in humans). Of course, dogs ears would be more sensitive I assume and takeoff noise is greater.
 
I know it's been discussed as well, but as much as the noise is a concern, O2 and hypoxia are as well... Flying above 10 thousand has the same effect on dogs as it does us.

When I fly again, I'd like to take my dog...
 
CharlieD3 said:
I know it's been discussed as well, but as much as the noise is a concern, O2 and hypoxia are as well... Flying above 10 thousand has the same effect on dogs as it does us.

When I fly again, I'd like to take my dog...
Click to expand...

D6387C40-374F-4AAC-993A-B9FB4FAAEFA3.png
......yep
 
Slow gradual accents and decents. If you see them shaking their head and getting anxious it’s their ears adjusting to the altitude. Take it slow going up or down.
 
I’ve flown a few PnP missions and the dogs universally curl up in their crate (not closed but just a plastic box except for a 3-legged pug which was in an enclosed crate) and sleep. Cruise altitudes 10ish plus

Not claiming it’s great for their ears but no issues in flight. Have there been any scientific studies on the affect of flight on dog ears? That’s a legit issue.
 
Dogs can regenerate their cilia. Humans can’t. But, if we take our fur baby flying, he’ll have some sort of hearing protection
 
Just make sure he/she isn’t given to leaping around and leaning on the yoke. I’ve seen the deadly results of that.
 
Since I started flying 31 years ago, I've taken all 5 dogs of mine flying. They all loved to go flying, never used hearing protection on any of them. My current dog is a Great Dane, who will sleep about 2/3 of most flights. I also remove my headset regularly in flight, plane is downright quiet compared to going to church where the music is painfully loud.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top