A Turn And Burn Rescue Mission

A scheduled flyaway by Pilots N Paws to save more than 100 dogs didn’t go quite as planned.

Instead of 45 pilots taking off in general aviation planes from Minneapolis and flying to St. Louis the afternoon of Feb. 28, 2026, spending the night, having a relaxing dinner, then loading up their precious cargo the next morning and flying back to Minneapolis to deliver the dogs to their forever homes, bad weather was on the way, threatening to cancel the Pups N Props flyaway.

That led coordinator Rachel Jouppi to ask the volunteer pilots to leave immediately on Friday, Feb. 27, fly down to Missouri, bring back as many of the 101 dogs as they could fit in their planes, and fly back overnight to get them to safety in Minnesota. It’s what Pilots N Paws calls a “turn and burn” rescue mission.

With only an eight-hour window to get to St. Louis and back to Minneapolis, the volunteer pilots scrambled.

About 15 pilots dropped out due to the bad weather, leaving 30 to fly out with severe turbulence.

But even with the challenges of the weather, it wasn’t all bad.

“It was so fun to hear air traffic control ask pilots if there is something happening in Missouri as they had almost 30 planes on destination to one airport in Missouri,” Rachel reports.

Ultimately they were able to fly back 71 of the 101 dogs through the middle of the night Friday — with the help of almost 100 volunteers on both ends of the event.

Flying back, the pilots had severe headwinds and had to refuel in Iowa, delaying getting back to Minneapolis, landing in the middle of the night, now with nervous dogs shaking in their crates.

Volunteers rushed to the planes to quickly get the dogs and bring them into the airport to bathe them, feed and water them, and comfort them. Families showed up in their pajamas to pick up their foster dogs.

But because the arrival was so late, some shelter volunteers didn’t make it to the airport to get the pups.

No worries, a very kind couple offered their heated hangar to keep the 40 pets that weren’t picked up safe and warm until the shelter volunteers arrived in the morning. Rachel and three other volunteers spent the night with them in the hangar.

“We had a hangar full of dogs barking in their crates that had to be fed, watered and walked,” she says, noting “everyone pitched in to help.”

Ultimately they all went off to their foster families — completing Minnesota and Missouri’s largest flyway in history.

“It was nothing short of amazing to see everyone pitch in — even the airport workers helped,” Rachel says. “It was all hands on deck and they acted like they’ve done it a million times. I couldn’t have done it without this team. Lacey Mantovani, the director for Healing Hearts Rescue in Minneapolis, was my right hand. She was the intermediary for the rescue groups and pilots, helped get crates, she helped with everything. Also Steve Burdick, who has flown hundreds of freedom flights for Pilots N Paws, is phenomenal. Without his guidance and direction, we couldn’t have done it. We loaded and flew 71 of the 101 dogs. The rest will be transported by ground this week. Not one will be euthanized.”

For more information: PilotsNPaws.org