Ok, Boomer!

I Guess We're Getting a Puppy#

As Christmas approached and the kids made their lists for Santa, they were very clear on their biggest wish – a puppy! They had been begging for a puppy for a while, and Jaime and I had discussed getting one eventually. In the meantime, Jaime and I were watching for flight opportunities on Pilots n Paws. At any given time, there are many animals needing flights, but it was hard to find one that fit my schedule, location and weather limitations. Finally, I saw a request to fly a litter of 6 ADORABLE hound-mix pups from North Carolina to Maryland. Jaime was instantly in love when she saw their photo. The timing for the flight worked, the distances weren't bad and the forecast was favorable.

Typically pilots only volunteer to transport the animals but not adopt them. Being new to Pilots n Paws, I was worried this might be against some rule but I decided to ask anyway. The receiving shelter was fine with it and after a virtual tour of our home, our application was approved. It was official, we were getting a hound dog! All I had to do was fly 262nm south to Washington-Warren Airport (KOCW) in NC, crate up 6 pups, drop 5 of them off at St. Mary's Regional (2W6) in southern MD, then bring our new boy, Boomer, to his forever home. Sounds easy, right?

An Eventful Flight South#

As I planned for my flight south, I saw another Pilots n Paws posting for a golden retriever that needed a flight from MD to NC. Since I was flying an empty leg down, I arranged to do this flight too. The stars were all aligned for a day of doggy tranport. With tons of space in the back of 29Whiskey, I decided to use 2 large dog crates to give the 6 pups more space on their ride north. I departed N57 at 8:30am and fought a 30 knot headwind for the 1 hour flight down to 2W6 to pick up my first passenger.

Dorado was a little late arriving, but we loaded up and were wheels up at 10:11am, for what should have been a 1.5 hr flight to KOCW. Shortly after departing 2W6 and climbing to 6500', I noticed my engine wasn't making as much power as I'd expected. I did some quick engine checks to see what was going on. I pulled the carb heat on, but that didn't help. Next mag checks revealed some roughness on the right magneto. It wasn't exactly an emergency as the plane was able to hold altitude, but since I was close to Tappahannock Airport (KXSA) I decided to divert there rather than pushing onward and risking it deteriorating in a more remote area. Luckily there was a mechanic on duty at KXSA to help me do some troubleshooting. After 4 hours on the ground, several test flights and me learning a lot about my plane and its engine, we determined it was simply a fouled spark plug. He cleaned and gapped all of them and the plane was returned to service.

The entire day should have been done by this point, but luckily everyone was willing to work around my delay. Flying south through VA and NC, I was rewarded with a beautiful sunset, smooth air and slightly better ground speed than the first leg in the morning.

Clear Skies and Tailwinds#

Washington-Warren Airport (KOCW) in Washington, NC is a beautiful airport from what I could see at night. The terminal building was modern and a comfortable place to eat the rest of my bagged lunch for dinner. After loading up the 6 hound pups and waiting for a US Army V-22 Osprey to finish a very very slow hover taxi, I was back in the air. Heading north, I was finally able to benefit from the south wind I had fought against on my flight down. Averaging 135kts (155mph) ground speed, I was able to get back to St. Mary's Regional (2W6) in 1 hour 20 minutes. Puppy Paws Rescue was waiting for me when I parked and quickly offloaded 5 of the 6 pups.

It was finally time to bring Boomer home. The tailwinds continued for the 40 minute flight home to N57. Our boy just slept quietly in the back the whole way home. After landing at New Garden and quickly putting the plane in the hangar, all of the day's events were about to pay off. Jaime had let the kids stay up late to welcome Boomer to his forever home. They were all smiles as I carried him into the house. He was a little nervous and wouldn't come out of his crate, so they took turns climbing in to give him hugs and kisses.

Overall this mission was 14 hours long, with 5 hours in the air, 600 miles traveled and 7 dogs transported. This is easily my favorite mission yet!