[airplane engine thrums] - [Common Traffic Advisory Freq] Morey Traffic, Golf Two One Charlie taxiing via alpha to one-zero.

[radio's Push-To-Talk 'cli-clicks'] - Morey Field in Middleton [engine rumbles] sees its fair share of takeoffs and landings.

- David Tan: This is early in the morning.

It ramps up during the day.

- The arrival of one pilot in particular causes a buzz.

[Porsche engine purrs] David Tan enjoys sports cars and planes in his retirement.

- This is a SIAI-Marchetti SF.260, and it is an Italian military trainer.

It's not a very common airplane.

- Originally from Singapore, David attended boarding school in England.

- I got my private license when I was 18 in England.

And then followed that up by joining the Singapore Air Force.

In fact, this aircraft you see behind me was the first type I flew on in the Air Force.

And now, I have one.

I ended up flying rescue helicopters for several years.

- Today, another kind of rescue mission has caught Captain David Tan's attention.

[seatbelt clicks] [ignition takes, propeller sputters to life] - Okay, Dave, whenever you're ready, they're ready.

[radio 'cli-clicks'] - Dave Tan: Okay, I'll take off.

[radio 'cli-clicks'] [engine hums, vibrates] - Pilots and Paws is an organization that matches aviators with animals in need of rescue from natural disasters or overcrowded shelters.

- There is a large movement of pets, dogs and other animals, from the southern states.

Rescue groups from the Midwest that would rescue these animals, but there needs to be a good way of bringing them North.

General aviation is a more efficient way of doing it because the animals are not so stressed.

Morey Traffic, Marchetti left downwind, full stop, one-zero, Morey.

[radio 'cli-clicks'] - David is driven by his compassion for these animals.

- I was averaging one or two a week, and that's very good.

[engine chugs] Mostly dogs, twenty-three cats, three goats, one pig, and a bat.

That's how it breaks down right now.

[chuckling] - And sometimes, these critters can rescue their humans.

- There's this particular dog that was abandoned in Mobile, Alabama.

I think she was just tied to a tree.

German Shepherd mix.

I took her over to Michigan.

The story was kind of sad for the adopter.

I think he had lost his family, and I think this dog, this wonderful dog, hopefully she made all the difference for him.

- David is also making a difference, and not just one dog at a time.

- I flew this mother dog and her eight puppies, so there were nine of them.

The puppies are small enough.

And they added one more dog, so I had ten on board, and the back was really full.

It was quite interesting.

[chuckling] - Seeing so many animals in need can pull on the heartstrings.

- I get very tempted to kidnap a lot of them.

So we actually have four rescue cats at home, and three of these cats have flown on the airplane because I had to go out of town to get them.

Only one was rescued locally.

[laughs] [engine murmurs] - Here we go.

Morey Traffic, Marchetti taking the active runway, one-zero remaining, left closed traffic, Morey.

- To date, David has flown more than 200 missions, rescuing more than 430 animals, and he does it all for free.

[cheerful whistling] - The way it works is the pilots pay for everything.

All the flight costs are paid by the pilots.

I'd like to do more, but, you know, obviously, it costs a lot of money to operate an airplane.

- At the end of the day, there's more to this Middleton pilot than Porsches, planes, and pooches.

- There is always a need.

There's always a need to move these animals up north to rescue them.

I just feel a lot of empathy for animals.

[gentle guitar]