Mission 1314 - Tambo to Toowoomba

Background

On Thursday the 28^th of September 2006 I flew Mission 1314, making it my 46^th Angel Flight.

The mission descriptions from Angel Flight was:

INITIAL TRIP REQUEST:
A 46 year old lady from Tambo needs to attend Toowoomba Hospital for Chemotherapy every 3 weeks and because of a long and arduous journey an Angel Flight will alleviate some of the stress experienced.

Because of the great distances involved, the flight had to be done in four stages: First to Charleville for a re-fuel, then to Tambo to pick up my passengers, onto Toowoomba to set off my passengers and, finally, back home to Archerfield.

Leg 1: Archerfield to Charleville

I got airborne at 9:05, and with a westerly departure was heading straigt for my first refuelling point, some 2 and a half hours ahead.

The weather was benign, with just a little cumulus about, and I was soon established at my cruising altitude of 10,000'.

While I heard a fair bit of traffic talking to Brisbane Centre, none of it was of any conflict with me. That is, until I was lined up for final at Charleville on runway 30. Just as I had made my call, another aircraft reported joining for final for runway 12 (ie the opposite direction on the same piece of tarmac). So I kept the speed up until the last moment, slowed down, landed and vacated the runway, just as the other aircraft was landing.

I had 80 odd litres of AgGas added to FWL's fuel tanks, added a hot chicken roll and a soft drink to my fuel tank, did a quick fuel drain (again, once for FWL and once for myself), before heading off again.

Leg 2: Charleville to Tambo

This being a maiden flight for Wendy, I carried the obligatory Angel Bear with me. He sat on the instrument panel enjoying the sunshine as we blasted off toward Tambo at just after 12:00, looking forward to meeting his new owner.

This time, cruising at only 6,000', I encountered a little bit of convective turbulence in the otherwise clear skies.

As I landed at Tambo at about 12:40, Wendy and her husband Sandy were waiting for me by the side of the tarmac.

Leg 3: Tambo to Toowoomba

Following the required safety briefing, with Sandy next to me and Wendy on the seat behind us, we got airborne just on 13:00 and climbed to our flight planned altitude of 9,000'. By this time of the day, the thermals had increased significantly, resulting a somewhat less than smooth ride. Nonetheless, both Sandy and Wendy were more than relaxed. Eventually,as we approached Roma, and having cleared the Great Dividing Range, it got a little bit smoother. I climbed to a 10,000' and it got smoother still.

Due to some sailplanes operating just to the west of Oakey airspace, which abuts Toowoomba, we had to delay our descent into Toowoomba. However, the friendly controller at Oakey did help us down as soon as he could, and at just after 15:00 I was able to hand Wendy and Sandy over to Brian Lubbach, the Earth Angel on this occasion.

Normally Wendy and Sandy would have spent more than eight hours on the road. This way the same trip was accomplished in a little over two hours.

Leg 4: Toowoomba to Archerfield

About 10 minutes after arriving at Toowoomba I was once again airborne, this time heading home to Archerfield, where I touched down at just after 15:30.

Summary

I was back on the ground in Archerfield after having

spent 6 hours and 24 minutes in the air and taxiing
consumed 330 litres of AvGas,
completed 4 take-offs and landings
covered 862 nm, 992 sm or 1596 km