INITIAL TRIP REQUEST:Joann and her aunt Dorothy had travelled to Sydney a week before, so it was my job to take them back to their respective homes from Brisbane, Virgin Airlines having carried them from Sydney to Brisbane.A lady who has recently moved from New South Wales to Roma in Queensland had been seeing a specialist at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney.
Due to the complexity of her condition it has been decided that she needs to continue to see the specialist in Sydney until a suitable Brisbane based specialist can be briefed on her case.
The time, distance and cost for her to travel from Roma to Sydney and return are prohibitive so Angel Flight will assist with a volunteer flight from Roma to Brisbane return and commercial flights from Brisbane to Sydney return.
Her travelling carer is resident in Toowoomba so a landing is required there to pick her up and drop her off en route.
Earth Angel Thomas Skennerton was a little late dropping off his charges as Archerfield. The Virign flight from Sydney had arrived on time, but they then
had to wait for the luggage and contend with the Brisbane traffic snarls, almost getting wiped out on the freeway.
Nonetheless everyone was cheerful as we boarded and headed off toward Toowoomba.
We climbed to 6,000' where we only cruised for some 10 odd minutes before having to start our descend. So it was less than half an hour after take off that we were lined up on final on runway 11 at Toowoomba.
Near the terminal a welcoming committee was waiting, including Dorothy's terrier that was behaving like it was the Boss. They all hugged and said hello while I played porter, carrying Dorothy's bag from the plane.
One down and one to go, we took off from Toowoomba, turned west toward the blazing sun and headed for 10,000'.
With nary a cloud and little wind today the sailing was smooth and Joann enjoyed her time in the back. Having flown this route many times, I was actually able to point out various towns along the way with a reasonable degree of confidence.
About an hour and 10 minutes later, the sun was setting as we approached Roma, finally dipping below the horizon just as I drove the wheels into the runway surface.
Joann was happy to be home and headed for the terminal building where her lift was scheduled to pick her up in the next 15 minutes or so.
It was dark by the time that I taxied out, but as I climbed to my cruising altitude of 9,000', I briefly got so see a little more light over the horizon.
Once the sun and well and truly set I cruised in the dark, clear sky and enjoyed the seeming closeness of the night sky.
I was vectored for yet another NDB approach, via Amberly, into Archerfield, but became visual some 12 nm out, touching down just before 8 o'clock.