For anyone that thinks all these flights are smooth and sunshine, Mike Young takes us on the reality of a dark, bumpy, tornado and storm filled day.

On the Ground – The best place to be in this type of weather.

Three dogs and 8 puppies were aboard for this trip.

Monte, just a downright sweet dog:

Mama Mocha from Roxboro with her tiny pups:

Bliss from Wayne County Animal Services in Goldsboro, NC:

Mike and his machine had to weave through thunderstorms and heavy rain showers in front of the leading edge of a cold front to get the dogs from North Carolina.

The storms were sparse and small on the way to the first stop for Mike and his dog-wranglers in Wilson, NC (W03) to pick up Bliss from Sandy and Brad. The little storms grew bigger on their way from W03 to Person County Airport (TDF) to get Mocha, her pups, and Monte. It is a good thing Mike has some seriously Calibrated Eyeballs to weave his way through the thunder-boomers.

At Person County Airport, the flight was delayed by almost 2 hours as they were totally surrounded by thunderstorms in all quadrants. While waiting, the NWS issued a tornado watch for the area as well. Sure enough, Mike spotted a funnel cloud just NE of the field. Fortunately, the tornado kept its distance and the storms did not devleop any further but instead began dissipating.

Mocha and her pups had the whole baggage area to themselves, while Monte and Bliss were spoiled up front by the dog-wranglers.

Transfer to David’s plane.

Mike and his crew finally landed at Manasses (HEF). The pups were moved to David’s plane for the next leg of their journey. Mocha was reluctant to get out of her cozy environment, even though the pups were gone, but they managed to coax her out.

Monte at home in David’s plane for his last leg.

David headed out to Wilmington, DE to drop Bliss off and then to Wings Field north of Philadelphia to drop off Mocha, her pups, and Monte. Bliss had her pups the evening after she was delivered in Wilmington. Got her there just in the nick of time. The foster is with Sixth Angel Shepherd Rescue in PA.

Click here if you’d like to see all Mike’s pictures from this adventure.