Page 8 - Volume 10 Number 12

Air Care Alliance (aircarealliance.org) has one of a pilot profile in Doobert, you enter information
the most extensive lists: 80 volunteer-based charitable aviation transportation groups. You can sort by services provided or by geography, and there’s a short description of each with contact information. ACA formed as an umbrella organization in 1990 after Bill Worden, a pilot and board member of Angel Flight West, and Rol Murrow of the Emergency Volunteer Air Corps convened the leaders of volunteer pilot organizations, many of which had started in the 1980s.
Milwaukee animal rescue pilot Chris Roy invented a software platform to help him organize the volunteer flights he accepts. It helps him easily route and coordinate entire trips using Google Maps, so he decided to share the software with the entire animal rescue community in 2014. Named for one of his cats, Doobert (doobert.com) is a portal to connect rescues, shelters and transport groups with volunteers, from pilots or drivers to fosters or photographers.
Roy said 13,000 volunteers have registered on the site, including about 500 pilots. When you set up
King Air owner Jeff Luizza (center) with Dawn Smith Blanton (left), director of the Moultrie Colquitt County Humane Society of Moultrie, Georgia, and Delaney Mitchell Hargraves, secretary of the shelter, with the dogs that Luizza will be transporting to a new home.
such as the days of the week you’re available to fly, the distance you’re willing to travel and how many pets you can transport. The software only sends you notifications for the transportation requests that meet your requirements.
Nearly 400 rescue groups and shelters in the U.S. and Canada use the site to connect with volunteers, and Doobert powers the rescue flights of transport groups including Flying Fur Rescue, Flying Dog Rescue, Pilots to the Rescue and Pilot.Dog. “The estimate is that there are 20,000 rescue groups in the country and around 3,500 shelters, so there’s still a huge population to make aware of this free tool designed for them,” Roy said.
He also hopes making it easier for volunteer pilots will encourage more to help save animals’ lives. “Doobert puts the power in your hands – you don’t have to do this every day or even every week. If you want to do a flight every two months you can,” Roy said. “There’s always a need because there’s still four million animals that are euthanized each year. It’s not an overpopulation problem, it’s a logistics problem. If you move these animals to where there is demand, they can live long, healthy lives.”
6 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
DECEMBER 2016