Michael SchneiderFounder, Executive Director & Chief Pilot aka "Top Dog", Pilots To The Rescue · Top Dog @ Pilots To The Rescue

Planes. Puppies. People. Watch how Daniel Baumel—a WeWork employee—is pursuing his life's

24 Feb 2021 · 1 min

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1:01

In this personal narrative, Daniel Baumel, a contracts associate on WeWork's legal team, shares his lifelong passion for aviation, sparked by childhood trips to air shows with his father. He describes the deep sense of belonging he feels when flying. Baumel explains his recent involvement with the nonprofit Pilots to the Rescue, which conducts missions to transport animals and provide medical assistance. He recounts a specific mission to airlift twelve dogs from North Carolina—where they faced euthanasia—to New York, giving them a chance at adoption. He reflects on the unique perspective and indescribable fulfillment he experiences while piloting the plane and helping save lives, describing it as the best feeling he’s had in a long time.

Chapters

I don't think you know it till you know it. With aviation, it kind of just— I know when I'm in that plane, I just feel, I feel at home. I just, I feel like I belong there. My name is Daniel Baumel. I'm a contracts associate on the legal team here at WeWork. So one of my biggest passions outside of work is actually flying. I know my dad used to take me to air shows and I'd see like movies, visit museums, and I kind of fell in love. And then recently I got involved with this organization called Pilots to the Rescue, which does some amazing missions saving animals as well as getting people in need of medical help to their places of need. So today we're picking We're picking up 12 dogs to bring them from North Carolina, which is where they were slated to be euthanized. We're going to load them up and bring them back to New York where they have a chance at a forever home. It's a perspective of the world that for that hour or two I'm in the plane is just unlike anything. I'm doing the thing that I feel like I was born to do along with helping someone is indescribable. It's the best feeling I've had in a long time.