This is where I find myself again! I have decided to join a flying Club. I strongly felt that every private pilot should support an

organization that keeps up general aviation as a hobby without any financial benefit. I am a member of Länsilentäjät Ry ( You

could translate it as " West Coast Flyers").

 There is a new member in my  family  -  Asla.  He is a Husky puppy and has a very pleasant character..

How to get Asla to be as fond of flying as I do?. I know it will not be easy to get a dog to approve  noisy cabin 

when  travelling by air. Heading up to the sky should be fun for a dog if you want it to follow you there again..

I ordered Mutt-Muff hearing protection headset for Asla via internet ( made in USA). The Owners Manual says that the dog

can remove the headsets first at start, but when it finds the increase in noise it won't  do it again.

No - anything wasn't quite that easy...

I introduced the headset for Asla to wear  at the backseat of our car. Asla  demanded a lot of rewards to keep

the headset on , but we managed the situation somehow. 

After that I made a little test flight with Asla . The dog wasn't very happy about flying and the headset slid off in a few minutes.

It was very clear that Asla did not like aeroplanes after that  flight. I kept the headset on when travelling by car to get it as a habit.

On 18. May I had the opportunity to fly up north again.  I planned to fly a two hours Leg from Pori to Oulu, then refuel and feed the dog

at the Airport and make another 45 minute leg to Ranua after that.

After  twenty minutes the headset slid off to the neck and the dog started to cry. I managed to slide the headset back on , which was easier said

than done , me sitting at the frontseat.  And I had to do the same thing  several times before Asla went asleep . When flying over Vaasa tower the 

flight Director sent his best regards to the Puppy as he recognised Aslas voice from the backround during our radio contact.

The weather wasn't finest VFR, but very smooth to fly anyhow.

During our refuel at Oulu Airport Asla was as normal and happy as ever. He settled back to the plane without problems and seemed to sleep the

rest of the trip.The headset stayed on. Even the weather changed better - sunshine and 25 degrees Celsius at Ranua Airfield .

As we landed,  Asla woke up in a good mood . The headset had pressed left ear on fold, but it straightened after a while.

At the airfield we also met Sampo's dog  Dani. The meeting was frienly and iut hopefully filled  Asla's  memory with positive affection.

We drove by car to our summer cottage at Posio. 

There we had a beautiful landscape and beautiful weather for several days. I  didn't have to keep Asla on lease,  so he could move freely on

my land. I would like to describe  Asla's mood as very happy.

After a week we had to fly back south again.

It seemed to me, that Asla had accepted flying as part of its life. We flew straight from Ranua to Pori without stops. The air was bumpier compared

to former flight. It wasn't easy to sleep during a bumpy ride. And the headset fell totally off an hour before arrival to Pori .I could not reach Asla

to put them back.   When we landed to Pori my wife was already there to meet us . It is difficult to describe how glad Asla was when it saw my

wife again. The wellcoming seremony seemed to last forever. To me it sounded as Asla was complaining about the way I had treated it.

Two weeks later we made another trip to the north for  weeks. It seemed that Asla had grown so much bigger during our visit, that the

headset  wouldn't stay on place as well as it used to. Next time maybe I will try ear bulbs.

Tero

Muutettu: 26. kesäkuuta 2010