The two rescuers knew they were in trouble when they found that they had to stay at the airport on the night before Thanksgiving with a grounded plane and 30 turtles（海龟）. Regnante and her husband, Tingley, were part of a volunteer effort to save hundreds of sea turtles that were washed up close to death on the beaches of Massachusetts.

The couple urgently needed to find temperature-controlled accommodation for the endangered sea turtles. They were in the rescuer race to save the smallest sea turtles in the world, at a little over 2 feet long, and they had been found with very low temperatures. Every year, hundreds of the turtles follow warm ocean currents north from their hatching sites in the Gulf of Mexico, become trapped in the cold Atlantic and are then rescued from Cape Cod by volunteers, who take them to wildlife centres along warmer coastlines.

Regnante is a volunteer with Turtles Fly Too, a charity that provides air transport for the stricken turtles. On Wednesday, she took off with the turtles from near Boston in a plane piloted by her husband. They were bound for New Orleans but storms forced them to change course and refuel twice. Then, at Chattanooga, Tennessee, a stone damaged the propeller. "It was just one thing after another," Regnante told The New York Times. "I just kind of wanted to say, "Guys, it's going to be OK'."

For turtles, being out of the water and in transit for a long period was stressful. Luckily, A happy ending was delivered. Two heated trucks were sent nearby, where the turtles spent the night. On Thanksgiving morning, Regnante and Tingley drove them to a handover point in Alabama from where the turtles were taken to their new home.

"Turtles Fly Too does whatever it takes to make the mission happen," Leslie, president of the charity, said. "When challenges arise, we'll be quick to make adjustments."