Pilots love to fly. Rescue groups devote their lives to save animals. What do they have in common? Until recently, only the bone-deep passion and commitment to what they love.
That is, until the brainstorm of Debi Boies of South Carolina and Jon Wehrenberg of Knoxville, Tenn., co-founders of Pilots N Paws.
The two found common ground when Boies, a retired nurse who also rescues Dobermans, was looking for someone to get a dog from Florida. Time was running out. The Dobie needed to be on a ride headed north to Boies in South Carolina. (A grim fact of life: some 9 million animals are euthanized every year in the United States, according to the American Humane Society.)
Wehrenberg, a retired manufacturing executive and pilot, saw a better solution - why drive?
Pilots love to fly, he said, and they want the time in the air for training hours.
How about flying that pup home?
And, after he learned just how many animal rescue groups work with dedication to link up much-needed transports, why don't we get the word out so other pilots can help too?
Two worlds clicked together. A world of helping hands started turning.
Pilots N Paws (PNP) was born. The an online (non-profit) network forum connects animals in need with a community of pilot first rescue flight too off Feb. 8, 2008.
"With the airing of the NBC Nightly News segment and the Today Show, so many new pilots have joined I can't keep up," she said. "Now the local FBOs are spreading the word - even more pilots are signing up."
PNP acts as a hub - the wheel is where people and pilots plug in to arrange or schedule rescue flights, overnight foster care/ shelter, or ground transporation and related activities.
"It's unbelievably rewarding," said Jerry Sica of New Jersey, a floor trader on the New York Mercantile Exchange, and pilot since age 17 (he's now 34). Sica learned about the PNP network through his Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) membership, tapped in to learn where he could help. "Pilots look for reasons to fly and this combines two things we love - flying and helping out." (Ever hear of the $100 hamburger? This beats that burger eaten at another airport, hands down.)
Two maps, one for pilots and the other for animals that need rescue, make finding connections a visual snap on the PNP site.
"Most pilots fly 200 to 300 miles each way, that's about 2 hours each way," said Sica, who flies from KCDW, Essex County Airport Caldwell, New Jersey, and now serves on the PNP board of directors.
More pilots logging on to the network means more choices for long-distance flights, where each can take a leg of the journey.
"Flights are subject to weather," points out Sica. "There are times we need people on the ground because of weather and icing conditions. There is a need for people along the way, if we spend the night, somewhere to hold the dogs."
That's how it works.
"Pilots and animal lovers, the best of both worlds."
Photos: Debi Boies and Jon Wehrenberg, co-founders of Pilots N Paws, top. Next photo: Pilot John Lee (pilot, Ohio), Jerry Sica Sr. with Baxter, Jerry Sica Jr., and co-pilot Ron Ferrell, with Piper. Close-up, Jerry Sica, Sr. (also a pilot) with "Piper" a rescue found tied to a park bench on a subzero night; Piper now lives with a loving family.
