Rescue Dogs and Airplanes

A good dog and a good airplane make for a good life.

- DICK KARL

Rocco is a rescue dog. Rocco has had “issues.” 323 Charlie Mike was a Beechcraft/Raytheon Premier I. It had “issues.” The more you think about it, the more buying a used airplane has in common with getting a rescue dog. Somebody somewhere was making this dog or that airplane available for a reason. Maybe the cost was too much; maybe they upgraded to a better model; maybe they decided to get out altogether. No matter how diligent the pre-buy inspection, you’re getting a bird that’s been turned back in for the rescue. Even renting an airplane is akin to a rescue exercise—who knows where that dog has been?

Here are the tales (tails) of three dogs and three airplanes. All had a budget; you will see how they spent their allowance.

Ubu and the Cessna 340

Ubu was a rescue in the sense that one of my kids had a friend whose dog had gotten loose, and next thing you know, there were several Labshepherd puppies to offer up to unsuspecting teenagers and their families. Ubu learned to fly in a box in the hold of commercial airliners. On one memorable escapade, my wife, Cathy, and I were flying from sunny Tampa, Florida, to snowy Boston with Ubu down below.

Four hours into the flight, the Delta captain announced a diversion to Bangor, Maine. After refueling, we took to the gray and cold skies again, headed back to Boston. (“The airport should open soon,” we were reassured.) Three hours of holding later, we landed in Providence, Rhode Island. I met the captain on the jet bridge and pleaded with him to release the dog, even though we weren’t at our destination. He relented. When the crate came out on the luggage carousel, you could hear a loud tail thump-thump-thump. Ubu had spotted us. It was a snowy drive in that rental car, but we were reunited.