In this live‑streamed rescue mission, Michael Schneider of Top Dog Pilots to Rescue narrates a four‑hour flight from Essex County Airport (New Jersey) to Southern Pines, North Carolina, where seven shelter dogs are picked up for transport back to New Jersey. The video explains the full veterinary protocol—spay/neuter, vaccinations, microchipping, two‑week quarantine, and proper documentation—implemented by a local vet boarding facility to prevent disease spread. United Airlines first officer Erin Murphy joins the flight, sharing her enthusiasm for combining general‑aviation flying with animal rescue. The hosts introduce each dog (Roxy, Jada, Will, Ace, Rex, Jewel, and a second brother) describing age, breed, physical quirks, and backstories of hoarding or neglect. After the introductions, the crew loads the dogs, notes a favorable tailwind for the return leg, and promotes adoption through A New Chance Animal Rescue, merchandise sales, and upcoming rescues in Virginia and Texas. The video serves both as a real‑time update on the rescue operation and a call to action for supporters.
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Michael Schneider here at Top Dog Pilots to Rescue. Had a 4-hour flight from Essex County, New Jersey, our home airport, down to Southern Pines. We flew at 1-4, 14,000, and we still had like a 40-knot headwind, so it took a while. And today we're rescuing 7 dogs from Moore County, uh, Moore County, North Carolina, and bringing them back up to Essex County. All the dogs today can be adopted from A New Chance Animal Rescue. A New Chance is a foster-based, network in Westchester County, New York, A New Chance Animal Rescue. Feel free to go on their website. I'm sure my social team will post their, uh, handle. I think I tagged them in the description. And, uh, today we have the privilege of flying down with Erin Murphy. She's a United Airlines pilot, a first officer, and she really enjoyed the flight. I'll let her talk a little bit about that. Um, hi Cheryl, welcome. Michael, welcome. Karen, let's check out the puppers. Here's Rick from Maverick Pet Transportation and Rescue. Rick is our man on the ground here. Rick, you were saying before, give me a little information about the vet that treats them and the dogs. Can you talk a little bit about that procedure?
All of these dogs are rescued from shelters, then they go to a veterinarian boarding facility right here in Southern Pines. They are spayed, neutered, vaccinated, microchipped, getting— gotten medically sound. They are quarantined for 2 weeks before they travel. They get all their proper documentation, ID collars. We pick them up at Southern Pines, the vet, bring them over here to Moore County Airport and meet Michael, and they'll be in New Jersey by 5 o'clock this afternoon and in their adoptive homes. And that's the right way to do it. A lot of these transports that don't do this, they're just doing nothing but transporting disease up the road and transmitting it to other animals. And, you know, we try to prevent that by doing this protocol.
Um, well, thank you for bringing the animals on the ground to us.
Welcome.
And Erin here, Erin Murphy, I, I told people that you, you're a United Airlines pilot and you got to fly with us. What was the flight like today?
I absolutely loved it. It brought me back to my general aviation days that I hold so fondly, and I'm so proud and inspired to be with Michael Schneider and the whole team today. Um, tying together the animal rescue and the aviation is just Top-notch.
Awesome, great. All right, so what you guys want to see really is, is the puppers. Who's this guy here? Do we know the name? It's on the collar.
Roxy.
Roxy. Here's Roxy. What do we know about Roxy?
Anything?
Age? Breeds? Very young, under 1, I would say. And, um, most of these dogs come from hoarding situations or, um, bad situations in the home, people that just can't afford them We've got a couple here that you can see they got a really bad underbite. Who's this guy? I think it's adorable.
And there's another one in the back, but their underbite can be attributed to bad breeding.
Absolutely. Handsome.
But that's okay, it makes them unique in their own little way.
It looks— looks— he's mad. He's mad at the world all the time, growling, permanent growl. And this guy back here looks a little scared. That's Jada. Jada Pinkett Smith. Hey Jada, hey Jada, it's okay. Yeah, there's Jada.
All right, and then you got a Pomeranian up in the back there. That's Will.
Will, another underbite, right? Yep.
And then on the bottom you got, uh, Ace.
Ace, Ace, you gonna fly today?
And Rex, they're brothers. Um, one's—
can't really see here, but— oh, there you go.
One's a little bit more Australian Shepherd looking than the other one. One's got long hair, one's got short hair. And then you got the big boy, big girl back there.
Big girl, Jewel. Jewel is a Saint Bernard, right?
Saint Bernard, yep.
Small for Saint Bernard, right?
Yes, she's probably—
okay, now you speak.
She's probably a good 40 or 50 pounds underweight.
Okay, well, we'll remedy that. That's okay, that's okay. You're gonna get your own— you're gonna get your own seat. Now, is that normal, their eyes like that? Yes. Okay, that's just the Saint Bernard trait. That's quite a bark you got. That's quite a bark you got. Yeah, you good girl. Good girl. Okay, all right. Okay, so that's the 7 dogs. We're gonna load up the pups and we're gonna head to Essex County. We got a nice tailwind going back, so it should be only 2 hours and change from, uh, so about almost half the flight time going back. That gives you an idea of how strong the winds are this time of year. Hi Sherry, hi Carol, welcome. Don't forget you can buy this awesome merchandise from our website or Facebook, Live Love Adopt. And you saw Erin was wearing a shirt also. We appreciate your support. And Saturday we have another rescue. We're headed to Abington, Virginia Highlands, and we're working with 2 dogs. Rescue, and I believe Athens Animal Rescue, which is in Texas. Thank you everyone for your support. Top Dog out. See you in the next one.
