In a live on‑site broadcast from Binghamton Airport, Michael Schneider, founder and executive director of Pilots to Rescue, walks viewers through the organization’s inaugural mission using their newly acquired 2013 Kodiak 100 turboprop aircraft. The plane, equipped with a Pratt & Whitney turbine engine, offers a larger, more reliable, and lower‑maintenance platform compared to the group’s previous piston‑powered Piper. Together with pilot Paul, the crew rescued 13 animals—nine dogs and three cats—evacuated from the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in partnership with the Bissell Pet Foundation, Susquehanna SPCA, and Mount Pleasant Animal Shelter. Schneider introduces each animal, highlighting breeds, ages, and temperament, and urges the audience to adopt, foster, or spread the word. He also explains the volunteer pilot program, outlining minimum qualifications, recurrent training, and how pilots can sign up via the organization’s website. The segment includes a brief media interview with Lexi from News 34, announcing a future news broadcast, and acknowledges community support that made the mission possible. The broadcast ends with Schneider thanking donors, partners, and viewers, reinforcing the vision of expanding rescue capabilities with the new aircraft.
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We are at Binghamton Airport in Binghamton, New York. First mission with our new plane, Kodiak 100. Saved 13 animals from the aftermath of Hurricane Helene with Bissell Pet Foundation. Paul was the pilot for this mission. Paul, this is your first mission. How'd it go? Everything go well? Oh yeah! The plane's great. All right. All right, well, so as you guys can see, this is a lot bigger plane. We got 13 animals on here, 9 dogs, 3 cats.
Welcome.
So the biggest difference about this plane besides it being bigger is this Pratt Whitney turbine engine. Safer, more reliable, a little faster. She's a big bird. We're thinking about calling her Big Paw. We're very excited about this plane. It's going to be super reliable, lower maintenance than our piston aircraft. That's a radar pod. Managed to get a few graphics on it in the little time that we have. We just got it last week. This is a tail stand because when you start loading and unloading it, it starts to squat down in the rear. We hope to come to Los Angeles, but that's a, that's a long ride. Yeah, it's a great plane, Mailbox Guy. So we're unloading the pups. Most of the people are dog people rather than aviation people. So who do we have here? This is— there's no name. I think this is the yappy one in the back. Oh no, the yappy one's still Yapping.
Um, it was stray. Stray.
So you guys are with Susquehanna SPCA?
Yeah, in Cooperstown, New York.
Cooperstown, New York. Thank you. Uh, Hall of Fame is in Cooperstown, New York, in case people don't know that. And, um, you're taking these 13 animals out of harm's way, basically. Unwanted animals, aftermath of feline.
Yeah, and we already have all their medical everything, and so they'll be ready to go home tomorrow.
Okay, any, any of them spoken for yet?
Not yet, but we're getting the word out right now, so, um, hopefully everybody can help us spread the word. Come adopt, foster, help us get them into homes.
That's right, excellent. All right, that's the first one. This is a 2-year-old pit bull mix, or actually a pit bull. I think we have a pit bull mix, gray and white. You're a great passenger. Let's see who else we have.
We have 2 Anatolian Shepherds here.
These, these big dogs are, they're 100 pounds each, but they were so gentle. They were so gentle. Yes, yes. You could tell he's a little timid, a little timid. That's okay, but lots of love here. Lots of love here. You're welcome, Gail. Yeah, yes, beautiful, beautiful. Really nice. Oh, you could tell he wants to be petted. Yes. Oh yeah, yes. Yeah, and I think they're paired together together, right? Yeah, they look alike.
Yeah, they don't want to leave.
This one doesn't want to leave, having such a good time. Paul, should we, uh, Paul, should we let this down or no? I just, I was trying to see if they would go down with it.
Now we're good.
Now you can let them off. Okay, just got to watch this handle, right? This is a little gotcha because if you let this door down, it hits the ground. So ready?
Yeah.
But, uh, it's a great plane, really Got some great functionality here. This allows you to load larger cartons without hitting that stairs. Ask any questions about our new aircraft or what we're doing today, I'll be happy to answer it. Paul is doing a lot today. He's not only pilot in command, but he's also unloader of animals. Oh yeah, it is. I'm not around animals. Paper. That, that crate we want to get back, so hopefully you have. All right, awesome. The news is here. What news station are you?
I'm Lexi, I'm from News 34.
All right, so where can people see this news?
We are going to have this on Monday at 6:11 on News 34.
All right, very good. Thanks for coming out.
Of course.
You guys help us get our mission out there. Yes, very important.
Love doing things like this. Okay, so amazing.
All right, great. A lot of people here It takes a village, as they say. Takes a village. Mailbox Guy, that's great. We always need pilots. We have some minimum requirements to fly this plane and recurrent training. So depending on where you are, it may or may not make sense for you to fly this plane. But if you have access to aircraft, you can go to our website. You could sign up as a volunteer pilot and you'll get receive notifications when we have missions. We have a transport board.
So, hi Jag.
Nice to see Jag Patel. She's with Mount Pleasant Animal Shelter. She's been on a flight with us before. Oh, you got a cat there? All right, let's see who we have here. I didn't get up and close and personal with some of these dogs. All these dogs are available to be adopted. Susquehanna SPCA. This is, uh, Ladybug. Ladybug's a Jack Russell Terrier, 12 years old. Guys, you have to adopt senior dogs. They're amazing. They have all their shots, you know their temperament. Ladybug will love you for the rest of her life. So someone had Ladybug because 12 years old. Do you know, do we know a backstory of any of these other than— yeah, here's Halo. Halo is a hound mix, 1-year-old female. You guys have a nice flight. Have a nice flight. They're all excited about what's going on here.
Look at those ears.
Oh, you're welcome. Yeah, we love doing it. Are you kidding me? We get to fly this amazing plane, play with these awesome animals, and hear the stories about when they get adopted.
There you go.
What's better than that? Here we have Scooby. Scooby is a Belgian Malinois. They're amazing dogs, super, super smart and agile. One-year-old. My dog's a Malinois mix. So, hi Scooby. Scooby is, uh, fixated on something over here. Probably wondering what's going on. Are you gonna load me in the back of one of these cars, and then what are you gonna do? Scooby Scooby-Doo. Jessica, you're welcome. Mailbox Guy, we'd love to have you if we can work with you.
Um, so we can put a little dog in here.
Okay, bringing them over to Susquehanna SPCA van. I didn't even get eyes on some of these because they were covered the whole way. Oh, these are the kitties.
Kitties.
Cat. Oh, cat condo location, no name. So if they don't have a name, that probably— and it's 5 years old— that probably means someone abandoned it, the cat, right?
This is Abby, probably, or it was like a stray or something like that.
Yeah, that's Abby. Yep, Abby. So we had 3 cats on board today for you cat lovers.
Yeah, yep, yep.
You're welcome, Jessica. Yeah, yeah. And who do we got here underneath the sheet? A lot of times they'll cover it because I guess it's a stress management tool, right, when you cover it? Yeah, this one doesn't have a name. Uh, 2 years old.
Yeah.
Oh, there you are. Oh, beautiful. Hello. Yes, there is a world outside of this crate. That's right. Don't worry, someone will adopt you. So a lot going on here. Again, if you're just joining us, Pilots to Rescue, we've been doing mostly ground transport because we haven't had a working plane, but now we have this beautiful 2013 Kodiak 100 aircraft. It's going to really open up our operations, make it safer, more reliable, obviously larger. Look at the size of this baggage door. Look how high this cabin is. We never had this before with a small Piper aircraft we were flying before. Then this has a turboprop engine, a turbine, is a jet engine driving a propeller. It's much safer, more reliable, less maintenance, and that's how we rescue more animals, guys. So for anybody who's donated made it to us before. This is the result of all your support and love. Thank you. So I'm going to sign off now. Michael Schneider, founder, executive director, top dog pilot of Pilots to Rescue. Thank you for joining. And, uh, again, if you want to adopt any of these animals, they'll be at Susquehanna SPCA. We'll see you soon.
