Hero pilot takes off from burning airport with a plane full of puppies

This dramatic footage shows the moment a hero pilot was forced to take off from a burning airport - to save a plane full of PUPPIES.

Quick-thinking Paul Steklenski, 45, saved nine dogs when he hurriedly taxied down the runway as flames roared around him.

The US Army veteran rescues homeless dogs in his spare time and had flown 300 miles from his home in Pennsylvania to North Carolina to save the pooches from kill shelters.