More Than a $100 Hamburger: How One Pilot is Flying to Save Pets

When she was young, Rachel Jouppi was the child who brought home stray animals.

“We were the house that had eight cats and seven dogs and all the different animals,” she says. “And when I was off on my own, I immediately started fostering animals and working with several rescue groups.”

In fact it was her love of animals that led to her getting her private pilot certificate. It also was the impetus behind her competing in the International Mrs. Minnesota Pageant, which she won. It was the first time she had ever competed in a pageant.

She’s using that stage to increase awareness of animal rescue, including Pilots N Paws, a non-profit that uses volunteer general aviation pilots to transport animals around the country.

While she had lived in the aviation world for many years — her husband is an Air Force veteran who is now an A&P/IA in general aviation — she didn’t think about earning her pilot certificate until an animal rescue mission went awry.

“I was adopting another rescue pig for my first pig, who was deaf,” she begins. “And her ground transport fell apart in Iowa on her way up to Minnesota. I was frantic. I didn’t have the time to drive 10 hours to Iowa to get this pig, so I reached out to multiple pilot friends to see if anyone would be willing to fly down to Iowa to get my pig. One of them stepped up and said ‘meet me at the airport in 20 minutes.’ And we brought Annabel home in the Cessna 182.”

That experience also was her introduction to Pilots N Paws.

Now Rachel is the one doing missions for Pilots N Paws in her 1966 Piper Cherokee named Sweet Carolina.

Once she earned her pilot certificate she was “raring to go” on missions for Pilots N Paws. Her only regret? That she waited so long.

“I wish I had done missions as a student pilot with my instructor,” she says. “It’s great cross-country experience.”

Since earning her ticket and volunteering with Pilots N Paws, she has been doing presentations to EAA chapters, flight schools, and flying clubs about all the good things general aviation pilots can do. It’s not just animals — there’s plenty of opportunities for public benefit flying. She suggests checking out the Air Care Alliance to find one that fits your interests.

What many pilots don’t know is that when they fly on these missions, the cost of fuel is tax-deductible.

But what may be even more important, she says, is that flying these missions makes you a better pilot.

“Not only does a mission provide valuable cross-country experience, it challenges you with timing. Some of these missions are time sensitive as you are pulling an animal from a shelter just an hour before it is to be euthanized,” she says. “It challenges you with going out of your normal airspace and farther away from home, flying through different topographical profiles and maybe some different weather conditions you’re not used to. Then you’ve got to account for weight and balance differently.”

“One of the things I say in my presentations is that now that you have your license, what now? You can go and get a $100 hamburger and burn some gas,” she says. “Why don’t you put that license to work and do something to give back? Make it worthwhile. You can go still get your $100 burger, but pick up a dog on your way.”

When asked about her most favorite mission, she chose one of her first, but notes it didn’t go exactly as planned.

It was for a family who had lost their Bernese Mountain Dog. They found another one in Indiana, but didn’t have the means to get the dog to Minnesota. They reached out to Pilots N Paws and Rachel accepted the mission.

“Of course, the night before the weather looks great,” she recalls. “But when I woke up, there was a low ceiling, so I ended up taking off much later than I wanted to, which was my first obstacle,” she recalls.

Once she arrived in Indiana, the dog was at the airport, but refused to walk through the FBO.

“It took us half an hour to get him through the FBO to my airplane.”

She was worried there would be a similar fight getting him into her Cherokee, but he jumped right into the plane.

“He was happy as a clam,” she says. “We buckled him in and took off and he slept right away.”

That’s pretty common, she adds.

“People always ask ‘do they poop? Do they pee? Do they cry?’” she relates. “Almost every single dog that I’ve ever transported falls asleep right away. It’s like a baby in a car. The white noise, the vibration, leads them to going to sleep and they’re as happy as can be.”

While the dog was happy, Rachel was not. That’s because she’s not a fan of night flying and that’s exactly what she was going to have to do to get the dog to his new home.

And then as she got closer to the airport, there was a crosswind, which meant she had to fly the opposite pattern. “I like my left-hand pattern and it’s a right-hand pattern now,” she says.

On top of that, the family was waiting at the airport, so she knew she’d have an audience for the landing.

Steeling her nerves, she landed and got to her hangar, where she was met by the family.

“They ran up and they were so excited to see their dog,” she says. “And I had tears rolling down my eyes, thinking ‘I’m finally back home. It was such a long day.’ But watching these kids in their pajamas at 11 at night to meet their new dog made it all worth it. I knew in that moment that this was special. This is really cool.”

An Unexpected Stage

The mother of three and a nurse, Rachel won the title of International Mrs. Minnesota in October 2025. She then competed in the International Mrs. USA competition in January 2026 in Orlando, but didn’t place in the top five.

That’s OK with her, because she had a lot of fun and competing was all about raising awareness for her causes.

“At first I said absolutely not,” she recalls. “I own a rescue hobby farm where I am shoveling horse poop every morning. I’m out in muck boots. I wear sneakers while I’m flying a plane. I don’t wear heels. And so I was very reluctant, but it was posed to me as why wouldn’t you take this opportunity to showcase these efforts on a much bigger level?”

And so she’s using her new platform to spread awareness of her many causes, including for her new endeavor, Paws And Give Thanks, a non-profit with a mission to help communities with the “resources, education, and support needed to keep pets healthy, safe, and with the families who cherish them.”

She’s very proud of the work she’s done to promote low-cost resources for pets, including increasing awareness of low-cost vaccination clinics, emergency vet care, and food pantries for pets.

She notes that many food pantries don’t provide pet food and the ones that do find that food flying off the shelves. She hopes her new non-profit will be a distributor of pet food, treats, cat litter, and other items so that people will be able to keep their animals in their house.

And if she succeeds at that, she may be done with her Pilots N Paws missions.

“If I can prevent them from going into rescue in the first place, I won’t have to rescue them,” she says.

Until then, she continues on the missions, including a big one at the end of February 2026 called a flyaway.

The plan is to get as many pilots as possible to accept the mission to rescue 120 dogs from Missouri to Minnesota to find new homes.

Because this is such a big mission, Pilots N Paws will pay for hotels and meals for pilots during the mission, as well as provide crates, she notes. And, of course, the cost of fuel for the flights is tax deductible.

If you are interested, contact Rachel at 612-269-1104.

For more information: PilotsNPaws.org, PawsAndGiveThanks.org, AirCareAlliance.org