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

Saving Lives: The Best Reason to Fly✈️ #adoptdontshop #aviation

7 Feb 2025 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

1:06

In this YouTube video, two pilots from the nonprofit organization Pilots to the Rescue narrate a rescue mission in which they transport 16 dogs and 7 cats from overcrowded shelters in Culpeper, Virginia to Massachusetts, where the animals have a higher chance of adoption. The team departs from Caldwell, New Jersey in a robust Kodiak aircraft, meets a second plane delivering the animals, and loads the pets onto their plane. The narration highlights the Kodiak’s weather‑resilient capabilities, the daily nature of the organization’s rescue flights, and notes that several animals were adopted even before the plane took off. The video underscores the humanitarian purpose of aviation—saving lives and improving animal welfare.

I joined Pilots to the Rescue on a mission to give 16 dogs and 7 cats a chance at a new life.
We're about to hop in this Kodiak here and fly down to Virginia where we'll pick up cats and dogs that are currently in overcrowded shelters down there and actually fly them up to Massachusetts where they will get better chances at getting adopted.
We flew the Kodiak from Caldwell, New Jersey down to Culpeper, Virginia where another plane arrived with our special passengers.
We are about to take them from this plane and load it up on this plane.
Some got adopted before we we even had a chance to board them.
Pilots to the Rescue does this basically on a daily basis, rescuing these dogs and cats and pets, really, and bringing them to either a new home or a better chance of finding a home.
The Kodiak is an extremely capable plane, which means missions like these are no longer stopped by weather.
These cats and dogs wouldn't have a future, really, but now they are here. Most of them have already been adopted, which is amazing. I'm glad to be part of this, really.