It’s pretty common to hear about top calibre horses travelling on planes in order to compete in some of the world’s most lucrative races. Although, how many people in the industry have actually been able to see what these planes are all about? Take a look inside ‘Air Horse One.’
USA Today has run a piece on the 727-200 aircraft which is leased by H.E. ‘Tex’ Sutton Forwarding Company in order to courier upper echelon equine to and from their high-end engagements.
The story explains that while some other courier companies may ship equine as cargo, Air Horse One provides horses with the VIP treatment, as the 727 is fully gutted and designed to pamper its passengers.
Air Horse One has the ability to haul up to 20 horses per flight. The horses’ grooms and buddies – e.g. goats, etc. – are allowed to ride along free of charge.
The company’s operations manager, Mike Payne, explained that Air Horse One has to be piloted a bit differently than a 727 carrying human passengers.
“You don’t want to give them too many positive or negative ‘G’s because their feet can slip out from under them and they can fall down,” Payne was quoted as saying, “or they’ll get that floating sensation and start scrambling to find the floor.”
In order to avert stressful situations for the horses that are aboard, Air Horse One pilots utilize wide turns and ‘extra-gentle’ ascents and descents, as having the horses maintain their balance and not get spooked is key.
(With files from USA Today)