The mission description from Angel Flight was:
SUBSEQUENT TRIP REQUEST: (7th and 8th Angel flights)I had previously carried Craig and his parents Leonie and Graham on Mission 194 in October 2004 and almost carried them on Mission 209 in January 2005A 14 year old Roma boy has Metabolic Disorder with a complex multiple physical condition. This trip to Brisbane is to again visit various specialists to monitor and investigate his progress.
A collapsible wheelchair is used and will be transported on the flight. The family are on a disability pension and car/bus travel is not a suitable option.
Peter Riachi, manager of Angel Flight, also contacted me some days before to ask me to provide a baptism of fire for Kylie Grunes, who is to start work at Angel Flight in August.
I had to do a careful weight and balance calculation to ensure that with 5 passengers and luggage as well as a wheelchair onboard, I would not exceed the Maximum Take Off Weight. To achieve this I had had to leave with some 60 odd litres less than full fuel from Archerfield.
Being a first time flyer in light aircraft, Kylie was keen to sit up front next to yours truly to ensure that I would not get up to any shenanigans.
We got airborne off runway 28R just on 9:00 and headed west toward Amberley, Oakey and Roma. Clearances for the climb were forthcoming and we were soon settled in at our cruising altitude of 8,000', sitting over mostly broken cloud. The only excitement was passing a Cessna 172, 500' above us, at about the half way mark. As we neared Roma, the clouds broke up further and we well and truly visual by some 20nm from the aerodrome.
Waiting for us were Craig, Leonie, Graham and Craig's sister as well as one of the local carers that also looks after Craig.
Seeing that they would be staying in town for a week, there was a fair bit of luggage, as well as Craig's wheelchair to be loaded onboard.
At first this seemed to be an impossible task. But with a little juggling we fitted it all on.
The bad news for Kylie was that she was no longer welcome at the Captain's table (figuratively), but had to take a back seat (quite literally), travelling steerage instead. She was seated next to the wheelchair and various bags. As we ran out of room, she had to earn her fare by nursing one of the bags. The rearmost seats are also lacking in headset sockets, so she also had to make do with a lot of noise. But she just kept on smiling - with that sort of attitude Angel Flight is lucky to have her.
We got airborne about 11:10 and headed back toward Archerfield. As we were approaching our flight planned level of 7,000' we were bumping around just at the top of a layer of cloud. So I opted to climb higher toward 9,000' which put us in the clear.
However, as the flight progressed the clouds crept up to meet us again, and, being above the freezing level, we started to collect a little ice. I therefore had
little choice but to descend to 7,000' again. Initially we were clear of clouds, but again they crept up to us. Before too long the aircraft was being subjected
to the normal up and down drafts associated with the edges of clouds. And, because we were running with a rear centre of gravity, the autopilot's attempts
to maintain altitude resulted in a very slight porpoising - almost like an ocean swell. Every couple of seconds we'd have a little nose up, followed a few seconds
later by a little nose down. This motion an unfortunate effect on Leonie, sending me scrabbling for a sick bag. As there seemed to be no sign of abatement, I asked
Oakey control for a non-standard 8,000'. This got us clear of the cloud, and the turbulence.
Craig, Kylie and Graham seemed to not be affected by the motion.
We landed at Archerfield a 1:45, and I elected to pull up outside the terminal building, saving us numerous trips across the tarmac. Before too long Earth Angel Steve Hudson arrived and started loading the luggage and passengers. He also unloaded another certificate from Angel Flight congratulating me on 40 completed missions.