Pilot flew animals to safety after hurricanes. Then he adopted one.

When he landed the plane in Milwaukee on Oct. 12, bad weather forced it to stall for about 45 minutes with everyone aboard, giving Prebish time to mingle with some of his passengers. That’s when he met Avery, a tiny three-month-old kitten who was rescued from a shelter in East Tennessee.

He pet her soft fur and was shocked at the thought that popped into his head: Should I bring her home?

Prebish is more of a dog person, he said. But Avery struck him as having an “explorer type personality.” Then she looked into his eyes, and he was sold.

“She caught my heart,” Prebish said.

He called his wife to ask if she was okay with adopting a cat, and when she said yes, he flew home to Dallas with Avery — to the delight of their son, Jett, 6.

“She’s fit in well with the family,” said Prebish. “She is exploring and running around and really likes to cuddle.”

Prebish has done similar volunteer flights in the past for other charities, but this was his first animal rescue effort.

“I knew it would be a fun flight,” he said.

The two-hour flight was coordinated through a partnership between Lucky Dog Animal Rescue in Arlington, Va., a global nonprofit called Greater Good Charities and Southwest Airlines.

The animals on board — 95 cats and 52 dogs — had been in shelters in Tennessee and Florida before the hurricanes hit. The two storms claimed more than 275 lives and causing widespread destruction. The emergency airlift was planned to ensure the animals’ safety, and also free up local shelters for an influx of displaced animals.

“The reason it’s really important to empty out these shelters is after the impact of a storm, there are a lot of animals in need,” said Mirah Horowitz, the founder and chief executive officer of Lucky Dog Animal Rescue. “If we can alleviate the pressure on these shelters, then they have the space and the resources to be able to care for all the stray animals.”

Horowitz and her team determined which shelters would need the most support, then coordinated to transport the animals — some by car and some by plane — from shelters in Tennessee and Florida to Lucky Dog Animal Rescue’s South Carolina Rescue Campus, which opened last year in Florence, S.C.

“That has given us a way to help in natural disasters,” said Horowitz, noting that the organization facilitates about 3,000 adoptions per year.

At the rescue campus, all the animals had health checks and received any necessary vaccines ahead of taking off on the flight to Milwaukee.

“It’s so amazing when you do one of these flights,” said Horowitz, explaining that this was the third animal rescue flight arranged by her organization with Southwest Airlines. The first was in 2018, after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico. Washington Post columnist Petula Dvorak was on the flight as a reporter and ended up adopting one of the pups on board.

Chica, a terrier mix, was her seatmate and had been found on an abandoned coffee farm during the hurricane.

“I couldn't resist the urge to adopt her,” Dvorak wrote in a column about the flight.

Prebish — who has been flying with Southwest Airlines for 13 years — had the same feeling.

At home, Prebish also has a 2-year-old golden retriever named Wrigley, a 9-year-old Labrador retriever named Tahoe and another cat named Smalls.

“We’re outnumbered now, animals to people,” he said. “She’s been exactly what we expected. It was definitely the right call.”

Horowitz said she was touched when Prebish approached her on the flight and asked if he could adopt Avery.

“To be able to see this one little kitty form such an amazing bond with someone and have that person fall in love so quickly, it was truly special,” she said. “It was definitely meant to be.”

In the aftermath of the storms, Horowitz said, animal rescue groups are in desperate need of support. People can help by volunteering, fostering, adopting and donating.

“There are so many animals that need our help,” she said.

Prebish hopes his story inspires other prospective adopters to consider taking in an animal impacted by the storms.

“I think we have to do whatever we can, whether it be for people or animals,” he said. “Every little bit helps.”