By Brian Passey
Scooby didn't even flinch when the six-seater Beechcraft Bonanza took off Tuesday evening from Albert Whitted Airport, even though it was her first time in an airplane.
As the plane banked slightly to the right, the 22-month-old black Labrador raised her head and looked out the cockpit window at the buildings of downtown St. Petersburg, but she never made a peep.
"If you hear any barking it's because we're flying dogs this afternoon," pilot Allen Brown, 67, told the control tower.
"Roger," the air traffic controller said with a laugh.
Scooby made the first ever Young BEagles flight in a program based on the Experimental Aircraft Association's Young Eagles program for kids 8 to 17 years old. The doggy version is designed to give puppies that are training to become guide dogs the experience of flying in an airplane and being around the airport noise at a young age.
"The more things they experience, the more likely they are to be comfortable with all new experiences," said Diane Anderson, 60, a volunteer puppy raiser for Southeastern Guide Dogs. Anderson organized the Young BEagles Program with her husband, Glenn Anderson, 63, a member of the EAA.
Brown has flown more than 100 Young Eagles in the last 15 months, but Scooby was his first dog. As the plane taxied to the runway before takeoff, Scooby sat calmly in the back seat, posing in her blue guide dog in training harness as two journalists snapped photos from the seats in front of her.
While the pilot waited for clearance from the tower, Scooby's head was raised in anticipation of the flight, panting in the heat and humidity inside the cockpit and watching Brown turn knobs and flip switches. As the plane sped down the runway, Scooby's eyes widened but she barely moved, even as the plane left the ground.
Brown flew west across the city, passing Tropicana Field, and Scooby relaxed her head onto the floor, with her front paws crossed in front of her. It was just like a ride in the car for Scooby. She smelled the carpet and occasionally licked the seat or her puppy raiser, Joy Bostrom.
The plane dipped to the left over St. Pete Beach heading south and Scooby popped her head up, reflecting the light on her shiny black coat. She looked down at the long stretches of white sand, the towering hotels and the Sunshine Skyway shimmering in the distance.
"Nothing ever bothers her," Bostrom, 70, said. "She was not disturbed at all."
Scooby was not the only well-behaved pup in the bunch. About 20 other puppies strolled along the tarmac in front of the historic Hanger 1, waiting for their turn to fly. Some lapped up water from plastic bottles as the sun beat down, while others rolled around and played with their puppy raisers.
Murphy, a 1-year-old smooth-coat collie, also behaved himself during his flight, said puppy-sitter Allie Patranella, 12, a newly certified Young Eagle from South Pasadena.
"He was enjoying it," Patranella said. "He was sticking his head out of the window and coming up to the cockpit and licking us."
Though Patranella is not a puppy raiser, she accompanied Murphy as a Young Eagle because Murphy's raiser, Don Thompson, is a pilot and flies often.
Puppy raisers work as volunteers for Southeastern, a non-profit organization that trains guide dogs for blind men and women in 10 states. The puppy raisers begin caring for the dogs at 9 weeks old, taking the puppies everywhere with them in their blue training harnesses.
At 2 years old, after learning basic obedience commands, the puppies return to Southeastern for intense guide dog training. When the training is complete, the dogs, now worth about $27,000, are donated to people on a yearlong waiting list, Anderson said.
Bostrom has raised four other puppies before Scooby; two of them successfully became guide dogs. As the dogs enter training at Southeastern's campus in Palmetto, the raisers often have the chance to visit and watch as they interact with the people who will become their owners.
"It's very rewarding to get to see them," Bostrom said. "Some people aren't so lucky because they don't get to follow up on their dogs."
Debbie Hietala, 48, and her husband, Chuck, are area coordinators for the puppy-raising program. She has the opportunity to be with one of the puppies she raised every day. Maggie, a 5-year-old yellow Labrador, has been her personal guide dog for three and half years.
"My eyes have gotten worse since we started and I always knew there would be a time when I'd have to quit puppy raising and become a guide dog user," Hietala said.
Though none of the guide dogs in training were actually beagles, the pilots thought the name play on Young Eagles was amusing, Diane Anderson said. More than 2,000 kids have flown from the airport since the Young Eagles program began in 1993. The Young BEagle program is similar in many ways; the dogs even get certificates similar to those given to the Young Eagles for their first flights.
Anderson said it is sometimes difficult to get guide dogs into small aircraft because they are trained not to climb on furniture, such as airplane seats, causing problems for those the dogs are guiding. The flying itself, with what she calls the "up close and personal" look at taking off, can also be quite different from what a dog would experience in larger commercial aircraft.
Four pilots donated their time and planes to flying the dogs throughout Tuesday evening. Each flight lasted about 20 minutes. Brown took two dogs on most of his flights though the other pilots could only accommodate one each in their smaller four-seater aircraft.
Finally, as the last glimmer of light faded in the western sky, Brown's plane appeared on the eastern horizon, lights blinking as it approached the airport with the last of the Young BEagles aboard. The plane lightly touched down and taxied to the front of Hanger 1. The doors opened and out tumbled two future guide dogs.
Brown towed his plane to a tie-down for the night, saying all the dogs that flew with him seemed to take the flight in stride, except for maybe getting a little warm in the cockpit. Meanwhile, his canine passengers stalked the darkening tarmac in search of a cool drink.