Flight Training - June 2021 - 36

Tim Lower returned from work with the
U.S. Army and Air Force in Iraq and had
two goals: get a house and get a dog. He
moved to Las Cruces, New Mexico, from
his hometown in Pennsylvania, for his
new job-manager of unmanned aircraft
systems flight operations for New Mexico
State University-and searched the pet
shelters for his new best friend. He found
a " runaway, " a dog that kept running away
from its new owners. The last owner had
returned him to the shelter saying, " keep
him. " Lower took on the challenge.
" I learned that he was not really a
runaway dog, but an extremely curious
one. If we walked around the airport for
instance, and there was an open unoccupied hangar, he was not satisfied to walk
with me around it, he had to walk inside
and cover the entire area checking it out.
If I turned my back with him off leash, he
would wander away-not run away-just
go exploring, " Lower said.
Maybe it was the name change; Lower
called his new dog Justus, not the shel-

36  FLIGHT TRAINING JUNE 2021

ter's name of Martin. The veterinarian
estimated Justus's age as about a year and
a DNA test showed him to be 50 percent
cocker spaniel, 25 percent Dalmatian, and
25 percent poodle. He weighs about 30
pounds and is now 14 years old. Lower
owns a 1997 Van's RV-6A.
" I had been road traveling with Justus
for two years before I purchased my airplane. We had made the drive to and from
Pennsylvania several times, as well as all
over the West. He was a great traveler and
very unhappy not going along, " Lower
said. " After having the RV-6 long enough
to feel comfortable in it...I became curious
about how he would handle flying with
me. I made him a foam headset to cover
his ears and rigged up a dog harness to
attach to the seat belt with a carabiner. I
vividly recall completing my runup and
pre-takeoff checks, preparing to pull onto
the runway, looking over at him, and seeing him sound asleep. "
Lower modified the RV-6 to accommodate Justus's dog bed by removing the

right seat. He made a plastic carrier that
wedged into the seat area. " He sleeps
through 95 percent of all flight conditions.
He can be asleep for three hours straight
but as soon as I reduce power and begin
a descent, he wakes up, sits up, and looks
around as if to say, where are we now? "
Lower introduced ear protection early,
but with both his own homemade ones
and the commercial grade ones, Justus
slid them off his head. " My homemade
ones stayed on the best, but invariably
I would look over at him and see that
he had pushed them off and was sound
asleep. He has never been a fan of head/
ear coverings. He is partially to mostly
deaf as well as mostly blind now, at least in
one eye. I am not certain how much effect
the hours and hours of flying we have
done over the past 11 years had on him,
but when he is gone I will get another dog
and I will find something that protects the
hearing and will not be knocked off. "
In 2018 Justus had issues with his hind
legs. He had disk surgery but lost the use
of his back legs. Lower now carries him
to and from the airplane and car. " When I
know I won't make my destination because
of weather or darkness or whatever, I stop
a bit earlier than I might otherwise; before
dark, before FBOs close, before other
services become harder to obtain. Having
a dog you are responsible for is a consideration. I can hike a few miles if I had to
with an overnight bag at night, but I don't
want to have carry a 30-pound dog too.
Even if he could walk, if it's summer in the
southwest and the pavement is hot, well
you have to plan ahead for that stuff. " FT
aopa.org/flyingwithpets
julie.walker@aopa.org
http://www.aopa.org/flyingwithpets
Flight Training - June 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Flight Training - June 2021
