Cat in plane

Has any got any experience with taking a cat in an airplane. Do they freak
out from the loud noise. Do they have problems with the change in altitude?

I've had a cat in the plane. It wasn't fun.

After a long day of flying, hanging out, eating burgers, and generally
having fun, it was time to depart for home. But as often happens on a
beautiful warm evening, I didn't get around to going until after dark.
I had flown the plane several times that day with no issues, so a
walkaround with a flashlight quickly convinced me that there were no
issues that would prevent me from making the 15 minute flight home.

I got in, strapped in, started up, did a quick runup and pulled out
onto the runway. The runway was grass with no markings, but it did
have lights. Off the end of the runway there were only open fields,
so there was something of a black hole effect, but the plane had a
full gyro panel and I was prepared for this.

I was not prepared for what happened at rotation. There was a sharp
pain in my left shoulder, and then a big fat fuzzy thing climbed into
my lap, completely blocking my view of the instrument panel. It was a
cat from one of the hangar homes.

I generally like cats, and really don't mind them climbing on my lap
to be petted under normal circumstances, but this was a little much.
Keeping one hand on the yoke, I used the other to try and shoo the cat
away. I didn't dare lower the nose - there were power lines that I
had to clear - so I stared off into the darkness trying to discern a
horizon. There were a few lights in the distance, and by holding
those in position relative to the bracing tubes in the cockpit, I
maintained some semblance of a wings-level climb attitude.

The cat, now throughly miffed, climbed off my lap and onto the dash.
This was an improvement of sorts - I could now see the instruments -
but a big chunk of my view forward was blocked and that would not do
for landing. The cat curled up in the corner of the windshield to
sulk.

More prodding got the feline to move, and as she tried to cross to the
other side of the dash, I grabbed the furball and threw her into the
back seat. All this took about a minute, I think, since I was now at
about 600 ft. I turned crosswind, flew a pattern, and landed without
further incident to an accompaniment of annoyed meowing from the back.
I then reached into the back, opened the rear door, and the stowaway
made her escape.

My second attempt at returning home was uneventful.

Michael

More prodding got the feline to move, and as she tried to cross to the
other side of the dash, I grabbed the furball and threw her into the
back seat.

Didn't you have a window that opened? Grin

A few years back I remember reading about a "Never again" or "I learned
about flying from that", concerning a flight in a C-150. The flight was
going south on the east coast, and there was a wife, mother-in-law and her
cat involved. It was a humorous story, I believe the ending was a scratched
up pilot, ripped up interior of the aircraft and one disowned mother-in-law.
Not sure what happen to the cat, but I know what I would of done with the
cat, test out the nine lives theory.
Clyde

"soxinbox" wrote in message
. ..
Has any got any experience with taking a cat in an airplane. Do they freak
out from the loud noise. Do they have problems with the change in
altitude?

Holy cow! I just got that. A Cessna 150 with a pilot, the wife and the
mother-in-law w/ cat? That's one tight C-150!
-Robert

On Tue, 8 Nov 2005 15:48:29 -0800, "Clyde"
wrote:

A few years back I remember reading about a "Never again" or "I learned
about flying from that", concerning a flight in a C-150. The flight was

There was the story, titled "Cat's Don't Fly Well" in one of the mags
a few years back, but as I recall he was flying a twin. Ended up
doing an emergency landing in field after the cat tried to imitate a
starfish draped over his head. Last he saw of the cat was it heading
for the woods. It was his girlfriends cat.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com
going south on the east coast, and there was a wife, mother-in-law and her
cat involved. It was a humorous story, I believe the ending was a scratched
up pilot, ripped up interior of the aircraft and one disowned mother-in-law.
Not sure what happen to the cat, but I know what I would of done with the
cat, test out the nine lives theory.
Clyde

"soxinbox" wrote in message
...
Has any got any experience with taking a cat in an airplane. Do they freak
out from the loud noise. Do they have problems with the change in
altitude?

Roger wrote:

It was his girlfriends cat.

ex-girlfriend.

George Patterson
If a tank is out of ammunition, what you have is a sixty ton portable
radio.

On Tue, 15 Nov 2005 04:41:52 GMT, George Patterson
wrote:

Roger wrote:

It was his girlfriends cat.

ex-girlfriend.



She was his girlfriend at the time, but soon to be ex when she found
her cat was gone. :-))

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com
George Patterson
If a tank is out of ammunition, what you have is a sixty ton portable
radio.

I assume the purpose is to drop them at altitude to see if they really
do always land on their feet?
-Robert

I hope this is a joke. Cats are not likely to try to hump your leg,
drool on you or your stuff, have terrible breath, fart like hell, or
crap indiscriminately. They beat the hell out of dogs. This is a very
touchy subject, as you might well imagine.

skym wrote:
I hope this is a joke. Cats are not likely to try to hump your leg,
drool on you or your stuff, have terrible breath, fart like hell, or
crap indiscriminately. They beat the hell out of dogs. This is a very
touchy subject, as you might well imagine.

Hmmm, the wife's cat sneezes on me all the time, has terrible breath,
trys to chew on me when attention is wanted and farts on a regular basis.

Sounds more like a which is better, Coke or Pepsi, proposition.

--
Jim Pennino

Remove .spam.sux to reply.