How can I qualify to have an animal transported?
- Any official nonprofit rescue agency, private or otherwise, may request a transport. You must have a valid letter of tax exemption from the Department of the Treasury. This is the notice you were issued when your 501(c)(3) was approved.
What qualifications are volunteer pilots required to have?
- You must be a currently licensed pilot holding a Sport Pilot or higher rating. Your BFR must be within it's 2-year period. If you hold a Private certification of higher, you must also have a current medical. (these are simply the same certifications the FAA requires for you to fly the aircraft.)
Do pilots need to be Instrument Rated?
- No. A large number of volunteer pilots are VFR-only, although some hold a higher rating. No plane is too small, and your volunteer work counts.
How many hours must a pilot have?
- There is no minimum requirement.
Can a student pilot participate in this?
-
We would discourage this. You don't need any more distractions. Concentrate on your primary training then please join us when you've made that step.
Do I need to own an aircraft?
- No. About half of the volunteer pilots do not own the aircraft they are flying. Many lease, are in a flying club, or rent from an FBO or school.
- If you do not own your aircraft, you must check with the owner / operator for any restrictions on pet transport imposed by the owner.
Are the animals transported in crates?
- Yes. This is encouraged for the safety of all involved. Crates also help the animal to feel more secure during this unfamiliar experience. It will also protect the interior of the plane from any animal-related concerns.
- As a federally licensed pilot, you are completely responsible for every aspect of your flight's safety and that of those on the ground. No matter how good a pilot or animal handler you are, you cannot predict what an animal will do when confined in a strange situation. Experienced pilots agree, unless the animal is your own, it is a significant risk to transport them without a crate or separation device. The choices you make define your professionalism.
What makes Canine Rescue Flights different?
- Two things, actually... Number one, we attempt to focus on Florida legs or Florida Flights. While there are a few pilots that have the privilege of flying a slick-fast Cirrus SR22, Twin King Air, or a Citation Jet... few of us fall in that category. Typically we are flying Cessna 172s, Piper Cherokees, etc. Most pilots can travel 300-400 miles and back within 4 to 5 hours. 5 hours is a long time to be flying without a break. These lofty goals of multi-state transports are possible, but only when working with other pilots and remember... there are only so many hours in a day.
- Number two... Our founders, being pilots, listened to other rescue pilots, heard your complaints and decided against a "message-board" style of posting of Rescue's requests. Our system works by Rescues emailing Canine Rescue Flights, where we filter, organize and post to an RSS feed. Pilots subscribe to the feed which is pushed out to your news reader. A more efficient method. Pilots respond back and Canine Rescue Flights does the "organizing" for you. Yes, it takes a little more work for us. Yes, fewer rescues get posted post... but more rescues get completed the first time around, pilots fly with full planes and the cluster of aggravation gets reduced significantly. We become the moderator between Rescues that often don't understand the all the work and planning it takes to prepare a flight, and pilots that may not understand the details of the rescue coordinators.
I'm a Transport Coordinator or Shelter Manager, how can I learn about possible flights for my dogs?
- Click on the contacts page and send an email to our requests group. We will add you to a list where we can notify you of flights that are going to and from certain areas. More often, our pilots are already going to and from a location (or near that location) and can easily add a couple of dogs to their passenger list. This is how the majority of our flights get completed. Other ways include requesting a flight to and from a certain area, these requests we will post to our volunteer pilots who can then choose to pick up your flight rquests. With today's gas prices, fewer pilots and the economy, pilots are finding the latter method to be a bit outdated and difficult to support.
Do you work with other Aviation Rescue Organizations?
- Hell yes! The goal is to fly and to help save animals, right? We often pick up flights or legs-of flights working with other groups and there are more than a dozen aviation-based animal rescue organizations nationwide. No one has anything to lose... we're all non-profit.
