Pilots Brad and Mike arrive at Allegheny County Airport and took possession of a beautiful Cessna 340. The 340 is a huge upgrade from our usual airplanes. Since it is getting late in the season we need to rent bigger, more powerful airplanes to overcome the dangerous weather. Our fleet of planes is just not up to the task. If we are going to fly this late in the season we are going to make it worth our while by having a plane that can carry lots of dogs, much more than we can typically carry in out planes. Even though this makes the rescues much more expensive we feel its worth it when we can continue the season this late and rescue large numbers of dogs in one shot.
With the fancy airplane in hand we got to work. Mike handled all of the details of the flight plan and Brad took care of the No Dog Left Behind duties, the final preparations with the shelters and organizing all the crates and cargo. The two pilots flew to Charleston West Virginia at 12000 feet, with a nice headwind on the way down but with potentially dangerous bits of trace ice on the leading edge of the wings. We arrived to find 11 dogs ready to make their journey to the Beaver County Humane Society which sits on 8 acres of land. The dogs were a bit anxious and rambunctious. Once we started the engines the dogs all coordinated a group nap. A remarkable tailwind had us cruising at 230 kts. We usually fly about 150 kts so this 80 kts increase was exciting for us pilot nerds. We picked up a bit of trace ice again but it was no match for the airplane. We cruised back at 11000 feet and we had the best view of the day. We were above all of the clouds and the sun was shining brightly. We landed to meet the girls from the new shelter, they thrilled to get these dogs into their possession and could not wait to put them in the outdoor play areas that have set up. All 11 dogs will be up for adoption at the Beaver County Humane Society, and they were all so cute.