In this live‑streamed rescue mission, Michael Schneider ("Top Dog") pilots a Saratoga aircraft from Essex County, New Jersey, to Georgia, picks up roughly 30 dogs and cats from shelters in Sylvania (Screven County) and Burke County, and returns to New Jersey. The team, joined by pilot‑influencer Mindy Lindheim and crew member Daniel Coppoli, describes the long flight, a fuel stop in North Carolina, and the logistical "Tetris" of loading animals. They stress an imminent euthanasia deadline at the Georgia shelters (end‑of‑December) and highlight the urgency of rescuing the animals. Sponsors such as Stella & Chewy provide pet‑food donations, and the group thanks individual donors. A major focus is a forthcoming fundraising campaign to purchase a larger Cessna Caravan, which would increase capacity ten‑fold for future rescues. The video ends with plans to deliver the rescued animals to Mount Pleasant Animal Rescue in New Jersey and a call for continued support, merchandise sales, and sharing of the livestream.
Chapters
Michael Schneider here, Top Dog. Long flight today, all the way from Essex County, New Jersey, our home airport, down to Falcon Field, which is south of Atlanta. We had a headwind the whole way. We had to divert and do a fuel stop in North Carolina, and we finally made it. We left this morning at 7 AM, and it's now 1:30. So now at least we can get back quickly with 30 animals in tow, dogs and cats. So welcome and thanks everyone for their support. It's good to be back doing rescue. We haven't done one since just before Thanksgiving and we have an influencer with us today. Her name is Mindy Lindheim. She is a pilot. She's a communications person for Textron Aviation. She helped us do a filming yesterday. We're trying to get a bigger plane, Cessna Caravan. So you can check that out soon. But we're very happy to have such an accomplished pilot pilot and animal lover on board. So she's going to say a few words later. Thank you for your donation, whoever just donated. And, uh, let's check out some of the dogs and some of the action. How you doing?
Hey, how are you?
You guys had quite a long drive, just like we had a long flight.
Yes.
Where'd you come from? Sylvania, Georgia.
A little more than 3-hour drive.
Okay, well, thanks for accommodating us. And we have almost 30, right? Yes. Yeah, uh, Sierra Romeo Aviation, we would prefer not to sell our Saratoga because it's great for smaller missions. All right, here's some of the kitties. We got kittens today. This is your dog in the front? Those are Stephanie's. Ah, we're not, we're not taking those dogs with us today. Those are your dogs. Look at that, they're driving the van. Yeah, look at that.
That's Boris.
All the dogs and cats are from Sylvania, Georgia. Is that right? Yes, Sylvania, Georgia, from, uh, Screven County and Animal Control, right?
Well, Scriven County and Burke County.
Yeah, and you guys have a really bad situation down there, right?
Yeah, yeah, as of like December 30th, 31st, they'll kill everybody.
Okay, so end of the year they're going to euthanize all the animals. So we're going to try to get down here at least one more time. Uh, we got how many cats today? How many cats do we have today?
Probably around 15, 16, something like that.
15, 16 cats. Let's see what we got back here. We got pups. Hi pups! Oh, these guys are adorable. Adorable. All right, we got 2 big ones back here. They all seem really excited.
Okay.
So now we got to play, uh, Tetris, and we have Daniel Coppoli here. He's going to get ready to flex his muscle. Ready to do it. And here's Mindy. Mindy, how was the flight today?
It was so good. It was long, but look at this guy.
Oh yeah, look at this guy. Hi there, Bandit. Hi, Bandit. Okay, Bandit. Maybe Bandit smells my dog.
He's really excited.
Yeah, I see that. Bandit's very excited. So a long flight, right?
Long flight, but it was great and we're here now. We're on the homestretch.
How did I do as a top dog pilot?
Top dog pilot is top dog.
Yeah, but, but you were able to teach me some things, which is awesome.
Yeah, we got the airplane reconfigured now just the way you like it, so you're smooth sailing now.
All right, great. Well, thank you so much for coming to support us.
Yes.
Are you going to adopt one of these dogs or cats, you think?
Wish I could. Yeah, I don't have the time, but one day.
Well, thank you so much for supporting us, and you're @shmindy, right?
Yes.
Yeah, I tagged you in the—
perfect.
Guys, check out Mindy Lindheim, great supporter of our cause. Shmindi, she should be tagged in the description. Thank you so far for your donations. Jessica, you're welcome. Look at Zanvin and Archie, you're welcome. They'll all find a good home, guys. All these animals are slated to be euthanized by the end of the month. Uh, and there's more work to be done.
No, it's okay. Hey, you can't play right now.
Daniel, you said a couple of them didn't, uh, aren't coming on the trip, so that helps out a little bit. Sounds like the mom of the pups didn't come in, so that frees up some space. What happened with Mom?
Uh, got a little growly.
Okay. And Stephanie, we have some of our leftover Stella and Chewy food. Stella and Chewy sponsored Pilots to Rescue. So this is the remainder of the Stella Chewy, great premium pet food brand, very generous to Pilots to Rescue during the month of November. They sponsored us, they did a great piece, and we love Stella Chewy. Thank you so much. And we have a couple other odds and ends, um, that we, you know, want to give away before the end of the year. So We're gonna— thank you, FMSSK. Who's— oh, this is still, uh, the same dog, right? Bandit.
Yeah, Bandit is very alive.
Yeah, I see that.
Bandit loves to play.
Yeah, I bet if Bandit saw a squirrel running across the, uh, airport, he would be He wants to eat. Ben, you got to wait till you get to New Jersey.
He's very good though.
Hi Amy, welcome. You know you want one of those puppies.
I know.
Oh my God, these 3 puppies stealing the show. So you mean to tell me that they would euthanize these puppies if we weren't able to do this transport? They're, they're so long.
The, the rule is, um, any dog in there a certain amount of time, it is being held inhumane, so they will humanely euthanize.
Oh, you heard that, everyone. Poor little puppies. If we didn't rescue them today, they would have unfortunately been euthanized. So I'm glad we were able to rescue these guys.
But the lucky thing is we're working with The pound is real— the guy, they're really trying right now.
That's great, I'm happy to hear that. Oh, man, man, sorry, sorry, he's very Daniel has the difficult task of playing Master Tetris with the cabin, and we did have to stuff him in the back here, Daniel, uh, for nearly 5 hours. We got one more. Yeah, close it for a second while you get in here. We're doing a, uh, we're going to be launching a fundraiser for our next plane, a Cessna Caravan. Uh, the plane's going to cost well over a million dollars. We have some very generous donors, uh, but every little bit helps, as well as sharing these live streams or sharing Pilots to Rescue. And, uh, but before the end of the year, hopefully before the holidays here shortly, within the next week or two, we'll do a public launch fundraise for, uh, Cessna Caravan, hoping to purchase it next year. We would love to keep our, uh, workhorse Saratoga here for smaller missions. And but this, the caravan can take 10 times the amount of animals. And we have a video that we created, we're creating, so you guys can get the scale of how much bigger the caravan will be. But you won't believe how many animals that thing takes. So, you know, we're, we're getting the cabin ready.
You could, let me tell you.
I don't think I could. Well, I'm going to get involved in the action, so I'm going to sign off. We got a 4-hour trip back to New Jersey. It's probably about almost 10 hours of flying today with a fuel stop on the way down. And I want to thank all of you for supporting Pilots to Rescue Mission. I'm wearing some of our merch, Live, Love, Adopt, as well as this hat you can purchase on our store. And, uh, thank you for supporting us. Thanks for following. You're welcome, Mackenzie. Thank you, Michael. Welcome. And I really appreciate the donations and any way that you can help us. I'm going to sign off. We're here down south below Atlanta, and we're going to load up the rest of the pups and head to New Jersey. All these animals are going to Mount Pleasant Animal Shelter, or Mount Pleasant Animal Rescue. I wasn't able to post it in the description, but I know that our social team will edit that so you can see exactly where to go. But if I believe if you Google Mount Pleasant animal rescue or animal shelter, they'll pop up and they're gonna be picking up all these dogs and cats from us back at our home airport in Essex County, New Jersey. Thank you, and we'll be seeing you soon.
