Fly Patch Fly!

I love taking my dog with me in the car, but I’ve never thought about the plane. For some reason I think she would freak out and somehow end up stuck under the rudder pedals or something.

It turns out, a lot of private pilots will take their dogs on the plane with them. I haven’t seen any flight schools offering lessons with dogs, but I’d love to try it out, so I’ve put together some information you’re going to need to do this without worry for their well-being.

Train in a car. My dog loves to sit on my lap when I’m driving. She’s small, so it doesn’t really detract from my driving. If I was flying, especially landing, I wouldn’t like this. The best thing to do is train your dog in the car first. Get them used to driving without constantly jumping on you lap.

Doggie Harness. There are harnesses available to help keep Fido in their seat. These aren’t a bad idea, as they act like seatbelts in the event of an emergency. Let your dog get used to them in the car first.

Shipping Crate. My dog LOVES to sleep in her crate. These are your standard transportation crates you would use on a commercial airliner. If needed you could keep your dog in here. If it’s a bigger dog you may have to put this in the cargo area. Not as much fun for the dog and may be a bit more stressful if they’re not used to it.

Mutt Muffs. A dog has very sensetive ears. Probably more sensitive than our ears. So, make sure you give them some hearing protection. That engine noise can be just as damaging, if not more so, to your dog as it is to you.

Weight. Don’t forget to put your dogs weight into your load calculations. If you’re close to your limits, you’ll probably want to make sure you keep them very stationary. A bigger dog going from a cargo area to the front seat can be a huge weight shift.

Enjoy! I hope you can spend some good times in the air with your best friend. I’m still not sure how my dog would do, so I’m going to hold off for a bit. Oh yeah, one last thing. Your dog can’t tell you when you need to make a pit stop for them, so keep that in consideration. Ask the FBO is there is a dog friendly area and make sure you clean up after him/her.