5000 Animal Rescue Week DON'T POST REQUESTS HERE!

[Jon]

I am posting this update to the orginial request to let you all know that the week as been chosen.....we are going to do our best to put plans in motion for the week starting Sat., Sept 12 through Sunday, Sept. 20th. If the transports start a little earlier or end a little later that's ok too!

POST YOUR REQUESTS FOR TRANSPORT FOR THIS EVENT UNDER THE PILOTS N PAWS 5000 SECTION OF THIS FORUM!

viewforum.php?f=15


What we need from all the rescues who wish to participate is for you to work on your end with setting up sending and receiving locations. Please do your best to keep these flights to a distance of 200 to 400 nautical miles (250 to 450 road miles) This is a reasonable days flight for most general aviation pilots, some a little more some a little less. For those of you who have worked with a pilot before, please contact them and see if they are willing to participate that week in September and assist you . We are hoping to work with a large pilot association to see that everyone who needs transport can be accomodated. We have roughly 440 pilots who are members of Pilots N Paws but we do need more.

Regarding media attention, many of us have been fortunate to have stories, filming, newscasts, newspaper articles written about what we do. Please contact whoever you have worked with in the past and let them know this is going to take place. For others, please contact your local newspapers and spark interest in this and contact your local tv stations as well. There are many videos under the NEWS section on our homepage that you can refer people to. Everyone loves to hear about animals being saved! Pitch this event as though animals lives depend on it because they do!

Thank you all and we will keep you updated!! Mark your calendars!!

Debi and Jon



Debi and I are back from our efforts at Sun "n Fun where we had a booth and hopefully encouraged more pilots to volunteer.

However, there is a cloud on the horizon. General Aviation is being threatened, and if some of the current threats are implemented the impact will hurt general aviation and our efforts to make animal transport flights less likely.

The short version is the Transportation Security Administration is attempting to implement stringent security clearance requirements that will make an animal transport a difficult thing. There are other potential threats also, but the one I see as most likely to make rescue transports a thing of the past is the implementation of user fees. The cost of general aviation is already staggering and adding more costs may stop a lot of pilots from flying.

I have proposed that to gain national attention to the problem and make the general public aware of how they need to express themselves to the elected officials is to have a single day or week in which across the nation we transport 5000 animals to safety. Every transport should be covered by the local media and the entire coordinated event should be covered by all the national media. We will have three messages.

First, we need spay and neuter programs. Second, pilotsnpaws needs more volunteer pilots so not request goes unasnwered, and finally the general public needs to hear this effort to transport animals at risk is at risk itself if the previously mentioned issues are allowed to occur.

My question is simple.........Can the shelters and pulling rescues arrange for a single day when 5000 animals will be available for transport, and those 5000 animals will have a receiving rescue or a safe forever home? If so we will work with as many pilot organizations as possible to make available the necessary pilots with planes.

Your response will determine if we go ahead with this plan or if we lack the support on the rescue side.

[richclover]

FWIW, Jon, Jill and I will fly that day! Hopefully with critters on board both ways.

[Terry in Huntsville]

I'm in!

Debi/Jon,
It was great meeting you guys and the other pilots at SnF. I obviously didn't make it back to the booth on Friday but was asked by several folks who saw my Pilots N Paws tee shirt about the program and how to get involved so I guess you could call it trolling!
Hope to see y'all again soon,
Terry

[admin]

LOL Terry, trolling for pilots volunteers with your PNP shirt, too funny!

As Jon stated, it was great putting faces with the names we have seen on the forum board and I would like to personally thank all the pilots who stopped by and spent some time helping us man the booth. It was a long show but we feel it was very worthwhile. We had alot of interest from pilots and the general public. Some had not heard of us, others walked up and stated "I heard of you on the news or somewhere, how do I join and help?"

Regarding the 5000 animal rescue transport day, we really do believe this can work if we all pull together. We have interested from the AOPA and we need feedback from those of you in rescue to see if you can assist with pulling and finding places for these animals to go. We can do this and it will bring awareness on several fronts which is what we need. All of us have worked too hard to get to this point and do not want to see what we do limited and disappear due to the burden of new restrictions placed on GA by the TSA. What do you think rescue people, please speak up and let us know!!

Thanks everyone, for continuing to be a part of this wonderful group. I will send pics of the PNP booth later this week.

Debi

[Jon]

THIS EVENT MAY PROVE MORE CRITICAL THAN WE THINK

One of the purposes of the 5000 animal rescue week was to raise public awareness of some proposed TSA actions. I have just received a letter regarding my airport, McGee Tyson in Knoxville that effective June 1st nobody will be allowed on the aircraft operations area without a red badge issued by the airport badge office, unless they are escorted.

Before anybody's eyes glaze over at such seemingly boring news this goes directly to the heart of the pilots and paws program.

Any pilot not from McGee Tyson delivering or picking up rescue animals cannot even walk across the ramp to his or her own aircraft without an escort. People bringing or receiving a plane load of animals cannot access the plane without an escort. Escorts would likely be employees of the fixed base operator, and I can assure you the typical FBO does not have employees standing around just waiting to escort people back and forth across the ramp. Would animals have to be unloaded and sit on a hot ramp in the summer sun? Would a pilot be required to handle a plane load of dogs all by himself? How long will we have to wait for an escort if the airport is busy?

What happens if the pilot loads the animals, goes inside for his last minute bathroom visit, and then the plane load of animals sits in the sun or cold while the pilot awaits the next escort?

This is TSA at work and they are out of control, pushing aviators around because they can.

If we do not get strong grass roots support, and soon from voters PNP can fail because the difficulty pilots will face along with rescues who are a huge help in loading will be insurmountable.

FWIW, my badge at KTYS will be of no value at other airports I routinely transport animals to so try to imagine the problems created when I have 10 pups to load or unload and I am by myself. Not going to happen. I expect the other shoe to drop at KCHA, KGSO, KJHW, KAGC, KPIT, etc. all airports I routinely fly into.

[Jon]

I hope the lack of enthusiastic response from rescues is not an indication there is no support for a 5000 animal rescue event.

I spoke previously of being notified access to airport ramps by pilots from other airports is going to be restricted and will require escorts. The other shoe has dropped.

The 2011 budget calls for user fees on all aircraft to pay for air traffic control functions. Just so you all know, we in aviation have ALWAYS paid our fair share in the form of very high taxes on fuel purchases. It may be expensive, but as a pilot paying for the air traffic control services I use, this way is simple and does not require a huge government bureacracy. In years past the excess collected funds were diverted to the general fund instead of being released for aviation activities such as airport improvements, air traffic control systems upgrades, etc. The government is not being honest about expenses and the collection of fees to support aviation expenses. (Think of the lies relating to social security)

Now with the proposed new funding we will presumably get an invoice for everytime we talk to air traffic control. This means as pilots we will be writing checks and having to retain even more paperwork with every flight. All of a sudden flying has gone from being an enjoyable endeavor to a real pain in the butt. If rescues believe aviation transports are worth preserving now is the time to indicate your support.

For those who do not understand the significance of what I have outlined in this and previous posts condsider this in the context of getting grocieries every week.

To start you will be allowed unrestricted access to a single grocery store of your choice. That will be your home base. To get that access you will need to submit your SS#, birth certificate, and two forms of photo ID. In exchange for a fee you will get a badge. That allows you to park in the grocery store lot and walk to and from the store freely.

But lets presume you want to shop at another store this week. When you pull into the parking lot, you must remain with your car until an escort comes out to bring you into the store. Of course if the escort is busy you have to wait. And wait. And wait some more. When the shopping is done, you will have to wait again for an escort to accompany you to your car. And if you forgot something, you can't just run back into the store. You need an escort. While you await the escort again your ice cream is melting.

If that doesn't make you stop buying groceries at a different store, this will. In 2011 the store which has charged for the escort via a few additional pennies added to your grocery bill will no longer do that. Oh, they will still charge you those few pennies, but now every time you require an escort you will be given a separate bill. Every time you pass through the checkout you will have to pay for the cashier in a separate bill.

Now do you understand how this will impact pilots? Now do you understand why there will be less animals transported by aviation? Now do you understand how your government actions will make future recruiting of pilots difficult and why fewer pilots will want to endure the inconvenience and expense to fly rescued animals.

We need your support. We need the elected officials to understand aviation is under the gun and if these actions and proposed actions are not reversed all animals will be using ground transports or will be euthanized.

[Cindy Smith]

Hi Jon....

You can count me in!

I think one reason you have not seen more of a response is because not many have seen your post about a 5000 animal rescue event. I just happen to notice it tonight.

If possible, send an email to all of your registered users!

Cindy
N299JP

[admin]

Cindy, you mean all 2014 of them?? LOL Will see if that is possible without it ending up in the everyone's spam filter!! Thank you for replying and offering to participate. I know everyone is very busy and I can tell by looking at the initial request that this topic has not been viewed very much.

I hope more folks see this request and respond with their thoughts and ideas.....we really need to make an impact and show the public how important general aviation is to each of us on a very basic level!

Pilots, rescues, and shelters, if you are interested in participating please reply here!

Thanks,

Debi

[skyking]

Hi Debi,

I had a great time at Sun-N-Fun!! It was wonderful meeting both you and Jon as well as the others. I just got back from Branson and my talk with the Skymasters. They are a good bunch of pilots and seemed very interested in PNP.
I just noticed this posting and you can count me in. I will contact the Key West shelter and let them know. Do we have a date yet or are we waiting to see what kind of response we will get?

Jeff

[ktt8]

I am pretty sure that the Chattooga shelter in GA, The Dog Pound in AL and Darlington in SC would be interested in participating. Kathi