Pilots N Paws, World News Tonight Tues.12-8 6:30 eastern

[rmboies]

Hi all,
Just a heads up to tune in to ABC World News Tonight with Charlie Gibson tomorrow evening, Tuesday Dec. 8, at 6:30 eastern. They will be airing the story of the Pilots N Paws transport for two dogs from Afghanistan that two U.S. soldiers rescued while on patrol. Their families raised the funds to bring these dogs home and our pilots jumped in to get them from JFK to their soldier's families. Then Cpl, now Sgt. Michael Lemmons will be featured along with two of our pilots Jerry Sica and John Lee. Michael is home on leave now and reunited with "Ally", who he found in a cave while on patrol in Afghanistan.

The other beautiful dog, Delilah, and her soldier Matt, will be reunited in January when Matt returns home to Texas from Afghanistan. Another one of our pilots, Jon Miller who is also currently serving in the military and presently stateside, volunteered to foster Delilah for a week and then fly her to transfer her over to his Dad, also a pilot, for the last leg of her flight home to Texas. This is truly a heartwarming story and a team effort by three of our pilots and a guest pilot Jon Miller's Dad.

Neither Jon or I will be interviewed for this though a lot of work and coordinating with us went on behind the scenes.

Debi

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Debi is not telling the truth. She worked like a borrowed mule to get this all together, and for the pilots among us this transport got screwed up because of a quickly imposed TFR which left the guy on the ground at JFK unable to depart.

For the non-pilots a TFR is a "temporary flight restriction", something that has come about since 9/11 and which along with user fees the government is trying to impose and with stepped up security of general aviation activities could kill a program such as pilotsnpaws or Angel Flight. Sorry to mix aviation with buses, but it is not only spay and neuter programs we in PNP need to talk about.

[gmcbuffalo]

So roughly what was the raised and volunteered costs to transport these two dogs from Afganistan to US homes?
GregM

[Jon Wehrenberg]

I heard the soldier's family raised the money to use commercial transports to bring the pups stateside. The cost I heard was $2500.

PNP pilots cannot and will not take any money for their expenses and efforts.

The cost to the PNP pilots varies significantly depending on whether you are talking about out-of-pocket operating expenses, or the total cost of operation which includes both fixed and variable costs.

My plane costs about $80 per hour just for fuel. My total annualized cost per hour including all expenses such as hangar, insurance, engine set aside, charts, GPS data bases, maintenance, etc. has been running in the $230 per hour range. My average across the ground speed runs close to 150 knots.

I think my cost per mile therefore is probably close to typical.

[rmboies]

So roughly what was the raised and volunteered costs to transport these two dogs from Afganistan to US homes?
GregM

Greg, the families needed to raise $2500.00 for each dog to have them cared for at a shelter in Kabul, then flown to Pakistan, then flown to JFK. Pilots Jerry Sica drove to JFK and waited for hours for the dogs to be turned over to him via Pakistani Cargo. He then took them to his home and kept them overnight before heading out to meet up with a second pilot the following day. There were many volunteers along the way to accomplish bringing these pups "home". Michael Lemmons had another dog in Afghanistan that was killed, and when he found "Ally" as a little puppy, alone in that cave, he told his Mom he just had to bring her home.

These dogs are truly therapy for our soldiers and give them a sense of normalcy and unconditional love in a very violent world they are living in over there. Jon related what it costs to run his plane. The other pilots involved in this transport from JFK to Ky and to Texas for the other dog , may be just a little less per hour to run.

Either way, these pilots will volunteer because they love to fly, and they have a renewed purpose to use their aircraft. We have had pilots on the verge of selling their planes, or simply not flying much anymore, return to the air in order to help the animals in need. It is truly amazing to watch....

My sincere thanks and admiration to everyone who comes together to make Pilots N Paws work.

Debi

[gmcbuffalo]

Then there is the Medical issues and government red tape. Expensive dogs needless to say.
I wish I still flew.
GregM

[Reagan Sirmons]

Jon,
Betty and I saw the report on the national news program. Congratulations on the successful completion of such a challenging task. It makes everyone feel better about the $200 rubber chickens at the auction and paying $100 just to get to eat first. Keep this video for the next meeting and you will really raise some cash for the great cause.
Everyone has to take pride in your efforts.
very best,
Reagan Sirmons