The mission description from Angel Flight was:
Mission 1641 - SUBSEQUENT TRIP REQUEST (10th Angel flight):A five year old girl from Mitchell requires frequent medical treatment and assessment by specialists in Brisbane for the treatment of cystic fibrosis.
When Earth Angel John Higgins dropped Hailey and her dad Andrew off at Archerfield, he was surprised to be at the receiving end of some attention.
Having just completed his 10th mission, Angel Flight had sent me his 10 Mission certificate and asked me to present it to him - I was only too happy to oblige.
We turned west and headed for Amberley. I changed frequency to Amberley approach to get airways clearance, only to be told that the radar could not pick up my transponder. Without a working transponder they cannot really see me on their radar scope and thus would not grant me clearance. I had had similar problems on the previous flight, but with the control space not active, could continue. On that flight the problem cleared itself when I was way out west, and the transponder behaved beautifully on the way back home. I even got the avionics people to check it out after I returned, but, as it often the case with intermittant faults, there too it behaved. Not so today.
So I had no choice but to return to Archerfield. Upon landing, with the engine still running and the transponder hopefully still acting up, I telephoned the avionics shop.
Two technicians with a test box and various wires and antennae soon approached. Twiddling with knobs only they understand they told me to shut down as
they could see the fault. So at least they had an idea what was wrong. I put the flight plan back an hour escorted Andrew and Haily to the airport café
and hoped for the best - that they could isolate and fix the fault in short order. Alas, while they could see the fault on the test bench and make it happen,
fixing it would take a little longer. But they could supply me with a 'loaner' unit.
With the loaner fitted, we again taxied for take off, and this time Amberley received the signal loud and clear. So, a little over an hour and fifteen minutes late, we travelled west with only a smattering of cumulus cloud about. Both Andrew and Hailey soon fell asleep and remained so until touch down, when the thumping of the undercarriage accompanied by the squealing of the tires and the acric smell of burning rubber roused them from their slumber.
As we taxied to the 'terminal building' Andrews mum turned up with Hailey's brother to give them a rousing welcome home.
The trip home was reasonably uneventful. With the clouds having built up a little and the odd thunderstorm developing directly on my track (where else?) I did have to
divert a little left of track, but this did not add significantly to the teip.