[airplane engine thrums]
- [Common Traffic Advisory Freq] Morey Traffic, Golf Two One Charlie taxiing via alpha to one-zero.
[radio's Push-To-Talk 'cli-clicks']
- Morey Field in Middleton [engine rumbles]
sees its fair share of takeoffs and landings.
- David Tan: This is early in the morning.
It ramps up during the day.
- The arrival of one pilot in particular
causes a buzz.
[Porsche engine purrs]
David Tan enjoys sports cars and planes in his retirement.
- This is a SIAI-Marchetti SF.260,
and it is an Italian military trainer.
It's not a very common airplane.
- Originally from Singapore,
David attended boarding school in England.
- I got my private license when I was 18 in England.
And then followed that up by joining the Singapore Air Force.
In fact, this aircraft you see behind me
was the first type I flew on in the Air Force.
And now, I have one.
I ended up flying rescue helicopters for several years.
- Today, another kind of rescue mission
has caught Captain David Tan's attention.
[seatbelt clicks]
[ignition takes, propeller sputters to life]
- Okay, Dave, whenever you're ready, they're ready. [radio 'cli-clicks']
- Dave Tan: Okay, I'll take off. [radio 'cli-clicks']
[engine hums, vibrates]
- Pilots and Paws is an organization
that matches aviators
with animals in need of rescue
from natural disasters or overcrowded shelters.
- There is a large movement of pets,
dogs and other animals, from the southern states.
Rescue groups from the Midwest
that would rescue these animals,
but there needs to be a good way of
bringing them North.
General aviation is a more efficient way of doing it
because the animals are not so stressed.
Morey Traffic, Marchetti left downwind, full stop, one-zero, Morey.
[radio 'cli-clicks']
- David is driven by his compassion for these animals.
- I was averaging one or two a week,
and that's very good.
[engine chugs]
Mostly dogs,
twenty-three cats,
three goats,
one pig, and a bat.
That's how it breaks down right now. [chuckling]
- And sometimes,
these critters can rescue their humans.
- There's this particular dog
that was abandoned in Mobile, Alabama.
I think she was just tied to a tree.
German Shepherd mix.
I took her over to Michigan.
The story was kind of sad for the adopter.
I think he had lost his family,
and I think this dog,
this wonderful dog,
hopefully she made all the difference for him.
- David is also making a difference,
and not just one dog at a time.
- I flew this mother dog and her eight puppies,
so there were nine of them.
The puppies are small enough.
And they added one more dog, so I had ten on board,
and the back was really full.
It was quite interesting. [chuckling]
- Seeing so many animals in need
can pull on the heartstrings.
- I get very tempted to kidnap a lot of them.
So we actually have four rescue cats at home,
and three of these cats have flown on the airplane
because I had to go out of town to get them.
Only one was rescued locally. [laughs]
[engine murmurs]
- Here we go.
Morey Traffic, Marchetti taking the active runway,
one-zero remaining, left closed traffic, Morey.
- To date, David has flown more than 200 missions,
rescuing more than 430 animals,
and he does it all for free.
[cheerful whistling]
- The way it works is the pilots pay for everything.
All the flight costs are paid by the pilots.
I'd like to do more, but, you know, obviously,
it costs a lot of money to operate an airplane.
- At the end of the day,
there's more to this Middleton pilot
than Porsches, planes, and pooches.
- There is always a need.
There's always a need to move these animals up north
to rescue them.
I just feel a lot of empathy for animals.
[gentle guitar]