After Beloved Pilot Dies in Crash, 2 Rescue Dogs Rescue Themselves

Seuk Kim was transporting three rescue dogs from Maryland to Albany, N.Y., when his plane crashed in the Catskill Mountains. Two of the dogs managed to survive.

When a pilot on an animal-rescue mission died in a plane crash in upstate New York, a dog he was transporting also died, officials said. But two others survived, including one that was found in a snowy hole he had dug with broken legs.

The pilot, Seuk Kim, 49, was traveling to Albany with three dogs from Maryland when he crashed on Sunday in Windham, N.Y., about 35 miles from Albany in the Catskill Mountains, according to the authorities.

Peter Kusminsky, the Greene County sheriff, said Mr. Kim had experienced poor visibility during the flight and had requested permission to change his altitude because of turbulence in the air.

The sheriff said the authorities subsequently received a no-voice 911 call from Mr. Kim’s phone at about 6:10 p.m., followed by calls from the Air Force and an Albany airport saying that Mr. Kim’s plane had flown off their radars.

Around 11:30 p.m., Sheriff Kusminsky said, rescuers found the plane, a Mooney M20J, amid a large area of debris on the Escarpment Trail. Its wings were disconnected and its cockpit and tail were “severely damaged,” he added. It took rescue teams hours to hike through about a foot of snow in the dark to find the plane, he said.

The rescuers also found two survivors nearby, the sheriff said. Pluto, an 18-month-old Yorkshire terrier mix, was found on a mountain ridge with minor injuries. Whiskey, a Labrador retriever mix, was found in the hole he had dug despite being injured. Whiskey was taken to an animal hospital for treatment.

“It’s sad,” Mr. Kusminsky said. “Nobody wants to see anything like that.”

Mr. Kim’s wife, Anna Kang, wrote on Facebook that she was “heartbroken” but that her husband, with whom she had three children, had gained his “angel wings” doing what he loved.

His older brother, Sejin Kim, sounded distraught as he recalled Seuk’s smile when they joked together last week. “See you later,” was the final thing he remembered his brother saying. Sejin Kim’s voice cracked as he described the exchange.

Their family immigrated to the United States from Seoul in 1985, Sejin Kim said. The brothers grew up doing most things together, including racing motorcycles.

He said his brother always had a “passion for speed,” and took up flying during the Covid-19 pandemic. As he learned how to navigate the skies, Seuk Kim connected with other pilots who volunteered for animal-rescue groups, his brother said.

He began trying to save animals by helping nonprofits fly them out of kill shelters, Sejin Kim said.

“We are all going to miss him a lot,” he said. “He just loved the air, altitude, speed and freedom of flying.”

Dozens of people mourned Mr. Kim on Facebook in post after post that showed photos of him smiling in airplane cockpits or on landing strips with cats and dogs.

Jaclyn Gartner, the president of the Happily Furever After Rescue in Connecticut, said she had cried more than she thought she ever could when she learned of Mr. Kim’s death. She said she had met him about a year ago through another organization, Pilots N Paws.

He had flown several rescue dogs for her group since they met, she said, adding that his death was a “huge loss” for the rescue community.

Even when Mr. Kim could not fly a mission himself, she said, he would go out of his way to help her find a pilot, saving many animals in the process.

“He had such a great spirit,” she said. “He was always in the air helping an animal in need.”