Stark County pilot flew 2 pandas from China to new home at Zoo AtlantaSteven M. Grazier,
FedEx pilot Michael "Shawn" Johnson, of Stark County, helped fly 2 pandas from China to America. They were delivered Sept. 27 to Zoo Atlanta. 🐼🐼
Michael "Shawn" Johnson, a FedEx pilot for 21 years, has seen his share of special deliveries.
A recent flight catapulted to the top of the Ohio pilot's list of favorites.
Johnson, of Jackson Township, is one of four FedEx pilots who shared flying duties last month aboard a Boeing 777 aircraft that delivered two giant pandas to the United States from China.
"FedEx handles a lot of animal transports, but this one was special," Johnson said of the nonstop, 8,000-mile flight from Chengdu, China, to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta. The flight took 16 hours. "I was honored to be part of that team."
The pandas − a 6-year-old male named Ping Ping and a 5-year-old female named Fu Shuang − arrived at Zoo Atlanta on Sept. 27. Both animals are part of Beijing's "panda diplomacy." American and Chinese officials recently met over trade relations and the AI race.
The flight was dubbed the "FedEx Panda Express," said Johnson, 56, a 1988 graduate of Hoover High School and former U.S. Air Force pilot.
Johnson said he watched as the pandas were loaded onto the FedEx aircraft in crates, but did not interact with the animals. He said the only previous flight that comes close to this effort was when he transported a horse across multiple states.
Some other flights over the years have delivered tropical fish and chickens, Johnson said. Routine or everyday cargo tends to consist of electronics, appliances, clothing and an occasional vehicle.
"Nothing came close to this one. I was fortunate to get picked," Johnson said. He's been a pilot for 33 years and noted that flight hours and experience were factors in his selection.
Other pilots tapped for the mission were Mark Fisher, Jason Redenius and Trey Hollingsworth.
Panda mission referred to as 'envoy of friendship'
According to a USA Today report, Chinese President Xi Jinping dubbed the pandas an "envoy of friendship" between China and the United States as he and President Donald Trump spoke Sept. 24 at the White House.
Amelia Ables, a communications adviser for FedEx, said the company's nonprofit group, FedEx Cares, funded and helped organize the panda flight with the American and Chinese governments.
Ping Ping and Fu Shuang started their trip at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, the largest panda breeding facility in China. To prepare for relocation, the pandas were quarantined for multiple weeks and trained for the mission to get used to their crates and loud noises.
The pandas are housed in a bio-secure area of Zoo Atlanta's giant panda complex for a routine quarantine period of about a month, according to a zoo news release. They will be on loan to the United States for 10 years.
Pandas have lived at zoos in America for periods since 1972, after President Richard Nixon's foreign relations initiative with China. The tradition has garnered the name "panda diplomacy."
USA Today reporter Jay Stahl contributed to this report.
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This article originally appeared on The Repository: Stark County pilot flew 2 pandas from China to new home at Zoo Atlanta
Source: Nature