Two Aircraft, Flight Crews Donated to Help Rescues
By Raygan Swan, NASCAR.COM
January 20, 2010 (This article reprinted with permission)
Time was running out. Dark was approaching and the wheels had to be up by 5:30 p.m. Inside the plane parked on the tarmac, Dave Dudley is texting his boss back in the United States. "Don't worry we're en route" types the veteran pilot and director of aviation for Hendrick Motorsports.
Finally, with less than five minutes to spare, a van arrives.
"Just board them and let's go, crank the engine. I will deal with customs at Fort Pierce," Dudley said. "Honestly I think all of us were willing to risk our pilot's license to get them home."
The van doors opened and out climbed 26 Haitian orphans, all displaced from last week's earthquake that killed thousands in their Caribbean country.
Exhausted and visibly distressed, the children -- some as young as six months old -- filed into the plane. It was the same plane used to transport NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick's drivers and crew members to and from the races during the regular season. Now it was a ride to their new home for 26 tired and scared children.
Doing his part to aid in the relief efforts in Haiti, Hendrick has provided two 45-passenger Saab 2000 aircraft and two flight crews with additional support staff to help a nonprofit group, Missionary Flights International, conduct support missions into and out of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. (MicroCare supports the Hendrick's racing team indirectly, through our relationship with DuPont.)
Most of the operations involve transporting U.S. citizens trapped in Haiti who were there conducting mission work before the earthquake struck. Navigating through bureaucratic red tape required in time to transport Haitian orphans to the States was not something Dudley thought was possible.
So once he saw the children within his reach, some wearing no shoes and fearful of the plane, Dudley became overwhelmed with emotion.
"It was surreal. The children were traumatized and scared. It was extremely quiet at first, but within 45 minutes they were laughing and all over the place," said Dudley, who rode in the plane's jump seat.
Starved for affection, Dudley said he had children climbing on his lap, putting their tiny hands on his legs and just wanting to be held.
"They were the sweetest kids you would ever want to meet in your life. They were running down the aisles, drawing pictures and they had never been on a plane before."
Picking up the precious cargo was just the beginning for Dudley and his Hendrick Motorsports crew. Delivering them to U.S. families waiting at customs in Fort Pierce to take them home was the true joy.
"These families might have had to wait years for the adoption process, but because of the circumstance they were able to take them home," Dudley said.
Hendrick Motorsports has yet to determine how long they will continue the missions but when NASCAR.COM spoke with Dudley on Tuesday night he was scheduled to pick up a dozen more orphans Wednesday.
"I can easily tell you that after flying for 37 years, this was by far the most awesome experience I've had as an aviator," he said. "The best flight of my career. There is nothing that will come close. I mean I got to hold those babies."
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