accessIndiana

Prominent pilot brings woman's ordeal to end

by Matthew Tully, Indianapolis Star

She was happy. Well, perhaps relieved is a more accurate word, because just a few months ago, she was so happy to be leaving Indiana, eager to spend her retirement in the South. "I really wanted to get away from the (Indiana) winters," the 64-year-old grandmother of four said.

In June, Hudnall left for Biloxi, Miss., to live with another daughter. Things went well until August, when Katrina struck the coastal city and Hudnall fled to a relative's home farther from the coast.

But as we all know, hiding from Katrina was barely possible. The storm devastated the area. Not that Hudnall could tell; her respiratory problems worsened -- because of the heat, the lack of air conditioning and the deteriorated air quality -- and she could not go outside.

"You could see more on TV than we could," she said. "We didn't have any electricity."

She recalled "begging for ice and water" and being moved to Georgia, where she was hospitalized. Without that, "she would have died," said daughter Rhonda Elaine Crabtree, who lives on Indianapolis' Eastside.

Hudnall finally left the hospital last Friday, still tethered to an oxygen tank but happily headed for a small airport near Atlanta.

That's where Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita entered the story.

Rokita, a commercial-rated pilot, is part of MedFlight of Indiana, a group of volunteer pilots that helps low-income, often ill people. The pilots fly kids with cancer to faraway medical appointments free of charge, and are helping unite hurricane survivors with their families.

Often, the passengers are too ill for commercial travel, or, with their families, cannot afford typical airline transportation.

Rokita piloted the six-seat plane he shares with two others to Georgia to pick up Hudnall. By the time I met them for the final leg back to Indianapolis, Rokita had dropped off another hurricane survivor in Tennessee and had spent about eight hours in the cockpit.

After refueling in Bloomington, Rokita helped Hudnall back into her seat. Minutes later, he had the plane about 4,500 feet above Central Indiana.

"Wanna try flying?" he asked somewhere near southern Marion County. "It's real easy."

She declined.

Thirty minutes later, Rokita, who took up flying 15 years ago, landed smoothly at Eagle Creek. Hudnall, a retired factory worker who long lived in Bloomington, softly offered her thanks.

"It's people like you who make people like me want to get up in the morning," she said.

There's hardly an easy response. Rokita, who calls flying his passion, did what most people would -- he downplayed it.

"Well," he said, "I'd much rather fly than go to work."