Leave that dog behind
A dog is not your co-pilot
Ian J. Twombly
Flying is best done with others. As is the case with most pilots, my enjoyment of aviation comes from sharing the experience. But when I say others, I’m talking strictly about humans.
We have become a dog-obsessed society. Our dogs have moved far beyond the best friend zone to take up roles in our lives as fashion accessories, social statements, home health aides—and, for many 20-somethings, children. We take them on walks, on drives, to doggy play dates, and even to restaurants. One place we should stop taking them is in the cockpit.
A few years ago, taking a dog along on a small airplane was either not done or not discussed. Today it’s celebrated with Instagram photos and pricey accessories. There are even groups dedicated to transporting dogs long distances from shelters to forever homes, and often they are not in crates. Now instead of relying on vans to take dozens of dogs safely inside crates at $2 a gallon, we’re flying one or two at three times the cost as they freely roam the cockpit. We’re even torturing cats in airplanes!
I don’t want to disparage the good work done by rescue organizations or those who volunteer to transport animals. But they simply don’t have a place in a small-airplane cabin chilling in the back like it’s the living room couch. Because the reality is that they aren’t always chill. They cause accidents.
Consider the pilot of a light sport aircraft who crashed into a cornfield short of the runway. The NTSB determined that the pilot’s 70-pound dog interfered with the controls, causing the accident. In a cruel bit of irony, the pilot died, and the dog was unharmed.
Or take the case of the January 2018 accident in which a Lancair Legacy crashed short on final. The owner, who had stowed his dog in the baggage compartment, believed the pooch was able to open the canopy because of a unique unlatching mechanism. On landing the partially open canopy caused more drag than he expected, and he lost energy and crashed short.
Before you write to me assuming I’m some sort of animal-hating curmudgeon with white couches and clean carpets, consider that we currently have five of the furry friends at home, each rescued from a certain-death situation. My problem isn’t with dogs, it’s with pilots who think dogs are their co-pilots. AOPA
Email [email protected]
I want my dog
Best friends make everything better
By Jill W. Tallman
I could easily win this “Dogfight” discussion by posting a photo of a dog in an airplane. Who in our readership doesn’t love dogs and airplanes? But that would be cheating.
Dogs love their people. They are pack animals, and we are their pack. Dogs want nothing more than to be with their people, which is why you see so many dogs riding around in cars with their families.
If a dog does well in a car, conventional wisdom is that it will do well riding in an airplane. By my own experience and the anecdotal experience of dozens of other pilots who tote their dogs in airplanes, that’s true. But if your dog vomits, cries constantly, bounces like a rubber ball from one side of the car to the other, or otherwise shows signs of distress, you’re better off leaving him home. Just make sure you tell him you’ll be back. (I always tell my dogs I’ll be back.)
Dogs make anything better. Why do you think the boating industry included a dog in its “Take Me Fishing” promotional campaign? That image of a dog with a pleading expression sitting in a boat with the words “Take Me Fishing” made me want to buy a boat, and I don’t have the time, money, or energy for a boat.
I’ve flown my dogs for pleasure trips and flown Pilots N Paws missions to transport dogs to new homes. When flying any dog, common sense and safety need to be your watchwords. Don’t feed your dog before his first flight, else he might vomit, and neither you nor he will be happy about that. A crate is an inexpensive way to safely transport your dog in the backseat of your airplane until you can determine if he’s as comfortable flying as he would be in a car. A pilot acquaintance takes her dog everywhere; he’s a small breed and she secures him in the backseat with a harness that clips to a passenger seatbelt.
If I owned a large dog, I would not put him in the right seat. I would not want anything to interfere with the controls, or my ability to safely pilot an airplane. But if the big guy is happy riding in back, and his weight is accounted for in weight and balance calculations, I don’t see the harm.
After the excitement of coming to the airport and getting into the airplane, most dogs go to sleep. They’re great passengers in that sense. And they’re not going to critique your landing.
Email [email protected]
Related Articles
