One day in January, Dean & Petra got an intriguing message: a pilot and host of a Discovery show wanted to volunteer to fly for Amelia Air! Luke Tipple, host of Discovery’s Nature is Fly, reached out in the hopes of coordinating a rescue mission and featuring Amelia Air on his web series.

After briefing Luke on our protocols for flying animals, the Amelia Air team set out to organize a mammoth mission to fill both Luke’s plane and Petra’s. First, Petra reached out to our amazing collaborators at Priceless Pets, a no-kill rescue based in Chino, to see if they had any capacity to take in shelter pets. Incredibly, they had space for 20 dogs! Next, the west coast team began contacting overcrowded shelters in the central coast, where stray dogs are plentiful but adopters few and far between. Shannon, a rescue networker for three shelters in the area, diligently began work to identify potential dogs for Amelia Air to fly to Priceless Pets. After confirming 19 dogs, Petra created crate assignments for both Luke’s plane and her own, and the mission was a go!

Luke, his wife Aria, and their daughter Kailiana flew up to Porterville, where Petra was waiting on the ground with all of the local volunteers who brought the 19 dogs to Porterville Municipal Airport. Though capacity was tighter than expected, Petra worked with the volunteers to ensure that each pup made it into the right kennel. After ensuring each kennel was secured within one of the two planes, Petra took off in her Piper Cherokee, with Luke and his family following soon after in their Piper Malibu!

When the Amelia Air flight convoy landed in Chino, Charles Price, one of the founders of Priceless Pets, was ready with their rescuemobile to take all 19 dogs to their vet clinic and facility. After spending some time cuddling some of the ridiculously cute puppies and dogs who were about to earn a new lease on life, everyone said goodbye. 

Charles took all 19 dogs to their clinic to get care before their foster families, Petra flew home to Los Angeles, and Luke and his family took off for their home base in San Diego. A short time later, and the episode of Nature is Fly aired! Check out the video at this link, or flip through the photos from the making of the episode!