More Pilots More Animal Lives Saved

Every year, as we work closely with shelters, our team meets loving animals that need to be flown to their furever homes. With more demand for our lifesaving flights, we need more pilots.    Don’t worry, Peter is not going anywhere, just getting a little assistance from three animal lovers. This year, we’re planning more flights than ever before and none of this would be possible without the support of our new team members. 

Meet the New Pilots!

Captain Blue

Dr. Brent Blue is an original board member of DIMC and is an enthusiastic supporter of rescue animals. Captain Blue is an Airline Transport Pilot rated aviator with over 9,000 hours of flight time. He practices medicine in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and has three adult children. His whole family has grown up with dogs of all types and has already flown his first flight. He is a FAA designated Aviation Medical Examiner and consults for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. In addition to his extensive aviation experience, Captain Blue is an avid skier, mountain biker, traveler, and photographer. He recently expressed his excitement when asked about flying for DIMC by stating, “dogs are incredible animals and bring such great joy to people.  How can we not rescue as many as possible?”

Captain Carter

Jeff Carter works as a Test pilot and instructor for a DOD aircraft manufacturer. He spends five to six months deployed overseas per year, supporting US military programs. While stateside, he lives in Southern California with his wife of 30 years and their 5 rescue dogs. Jeff looks forward to helping DIMC save as many pets’ lives as possible while he’s in California. 

Captain Colton

Craig Colton loves dogs plain and simple. After a career in aviation as a commercial pilot flying all over the world, he is honored to be in a position with DIMC to help transport dogs and cats to their furever home. He has personally adopted many wonderful rescue dogs over the years and is now excited to be on the other side helping dogs and cats find loving homes. After monitoring his first couple of flights, Captain Colton appears to have a goal of breaking the sound barrier in our Cessna Caravan.  We’re not sure if the Big Dog is up to the challenge 🐶

Last but not least: Captain Rork

Peter, “The Pilot”, is an East Coast refugee, who always believed that he was switched at birth with a kid from New Jersey. After working his way through medical school as a pilot, he practiced Orthopaedic Surgery for more than thirty years. Instead of retiring to a golf course, he has returned to the skies as our Chief Pilot. Peter holds an Airline Transport Pilot rating and is qualified to fly single and multi engine aircraft as well as seaplanes. He is also a certified flight instructor. Transporting animals to furever homes in a Cessna Turbo 206 Stationair and Cessna Grand Caravan, he says that the view from his new office beats any other.

How does this work get done?

These three new volunteer pilots and Peter have already donated hundreds of hours flying rescued animals all over the west coast for DIMC. This important work would not be possible without the generous support of the Petco Foundation. Dog Is My CoPilot received a $250K lifesaving grant from the Petco Foundation that allowed us to train our new pilots and increase the number of lives we save each year. Having rescued over 14,000 animals, which is part of the more than 6 million pets that the Petco Foundation has helped rescue, we feel fortunate to be their partner.

More stories to come

Dog Is My CoPilot has recently hit our 14,000th animal rescued and 15,000 is right around the corner.  Keep your eye out for more exciting stories about our new pilots, the travels of an animal crate, and the logistics required to make just one flight possible, let alone dozens a year!