 Even though Dave Wilson spends much of his time in the air, he is a very grounded man, self-deprecating and humble. He down plays his sacrifices and deeds, yet his record as a volunteer pilot flying emergency missions for Mercy Flight Southeast speaks volumes.
He began flying for Mercy Flight™ Southeast in 1998 after finishing a total modification to his BE-35 V-tailed Bonanza. When asked why he began flying his missions of aid and assistance, his response was that "the Lord put some wonderful people in my life, and I was looking for a way to give back what I had been blessed with." Little did he know that he was beginning a journey that would bring him in contact with many more wonderful people.
Six years later and more than 200 missions since he first took to the air with Mercy Flight™ Southeast, Dave Wilson is still giving back and changing lives.
Dave was recently chosen as the 2003 Mercy Flight™ Southeast Pilot of the Year for Florida. He also was honored in 1998 as the Mercy Flight™ Southeast Pilot of the Year for the Southeast Region and the National Pilot of the Year for Air Care Alliance. Yet he will tell you that the real reward of what he and the many other volunteer pilots do "is the personally gratifying and fulfilling sense of accomplishment that is derived by helping people that need you so much."
"The reward that you receive is so much greater than what you give," Dave asserts. "The pilots love to fly and to help people in need. There's just no other feeling like it."
Based out of Orlando Executive Airport, Dave's many flights take him to such destinations throughout the Southeast as Miami, Destin, Pensacola, Tallahassee. These modern airports are a far cry from his modest maiden flight that took place on a grass airstrip in Canton, Illinois, in 1954, when he lifted off in an old Taylor Craft stick plane with a maximum speed of 60 miles per hour. When asked why he started flying in such a primitive airplane, he laughs and says, "Because I didn't know any better." Since his stick plane days, Dave has logged many thousands of hours in multi-and single-engine craft, seaplanes and various commercial liners.
Although he is highly reticent about discussing his service in the U.S. military, it must be noted that Dave served his country honorably by serving two tours of duty in Vietnam, flying out of Ton Se Nut Air base near Saigon and Nha Trang Air base in the Central Highlands. Dave holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois and a graduate degree in business from Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida.
He also is the president of Vista Development and Construction Company and is affiliated with the HomeBuilders Association, National Home Builders, and Mercy Flight™ Southeast.
While Dave's true love is flying, his deep sense of satisfaction comes from flying for Mercy Flight™ Southeast. He transports organ recipients, mostly in the wee hours of the morning or night, flying under intense time restraints and deadlines because of the short window of opportunity for those types of medical procedures.
One might assume that once patients are delivered to their destination there is no further contact between them and their pilot - but that's not the case. "They always make an effort to write me or thank me, and many stay in touch," Dave reveals. Therein lies the gratification for these selfless volunteers of the sky. It is in the knowing that they may have not only helped someone, but more likely saved a life.
Understandably, many of the patients or organ recipients have either never flown before or have never flown in small planes, so it is imperative that the pilots make an effort to try to put their passengers at ease. Also, the passengers are of all ages and have various disabilities. "I'm not a serious person," Dave states. "I like to keep it light. I want the patient to know that they are in God's hands and that the Lord has given me the skills to do the job. I tell them what is going to happen in the flight and the sounds that they will hear and the sensations that they will feel. I try to get them involved, and it seems to momentarily take their minds off their problems."
The pilots at Mercy Flight™ Southeast fly many missions throughout the year, yet if you ask them to share their most rewarding flight experience, most will recall one such flight that is indelibly imprinted in their memory. So it is with Dave Wilson.
"I picked up a young lady named Bonnie in Deland, Florida," he remembers. "She was a cancer patient, and I was supposed to fly her to Mississippi, but when we got there, her connecting flight to Houston, Texas, had been cancelled, so I flew her and her husband all the way to Houston. I'll never forget the look of appreciation on both of their faces for as long as I live."
The many grateful people that Dave Wilson has flown to life-saving operations throughout the last six years will tell you that they were the ones that were rewarded and blessed for being transported on "the wings of an angel."
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