The mission descriptions from Angel Flight was:
SUBSEQUENT TRIP REQUEST:The assistance of Angel Flight is requested to transport a 46 year old woman who is being treated for breast cancer at the Mater Medical Centre in Brisbane. This lady is disadvantaged both financially and by distance, without the assistance of Angel Flight she would face an uncomfortable 2000km round journey to attend these vital chemotherapy sessions.
I had previously carried Heather on her maiden flight, Mission 3012 a few weeks before.
This time I would again be taking her to Brisbane for treatment.
The weather today could not have been in greater contrast to what it was on the last occasion. Lots of low cloud (down to 800' Above Ground Level) was forecast for the entire region from east of Roma to west of Tambo.
I had indeed been raining so heavily that Heather decided to spend the night in town instead of the family homestead. The dirt roads had become unpassable to anything but a four wheel drive proceeding in low-range. And then the trip of fifteen minutes had become a one hour plus affair.
While no one has ever accused me of being sane, I did decide early on that with the weather forecast to be so bad I would first try to land and Roma for a refuel.
Should I be unable to land at Roma I would have head back to Brisbane, as proceeding to Tambo without being assured of a place to refuel would be unwise.
I affected an Instrument Departure out of Archerfield, going into clouds at about 1,000' and headed west. About half way to Roma the clouds briefly parted but then became solid again.
I arrived two minutes before the Sunstate (Qantaslink) 545 flight and thus was able to commence my NDB approach from the south before he could try for the GPS approach from the north. Three minutes behind Sunstate 545 was a TBM700 (single engine turbo prop) that was also going to do the GPS approach after Sunstate 545.
I descended on the inbound leg to the minimum altitude and vainly looked for the airport to emerge from the tatters of cloud below me. With just seconds to the missed approach point I did finally manage to get visual with the threshold for runway 36. I had to circle to the left at 500' to 400' above the ground in amongst the clouds to line myself up for a landing. Upon clearing the runway Sunstate 545 started on his approach and the TBM moved into the next slot.
As I walked to the terminal building to perform a fuel drain of my bladder I was accosted by a stranger who told me that he had a little plane parked at the airfield and was stuck due to the bad weather. The following exchange then took place convincing me that not only did you need to be mad fly today but also mad not to fly today:
Having called Heather to advise her of my arrival about an hour later, I taxied out to see the TBM700 arriving, and heard that Sunstate 545 was still
trying - they were heading for their third try as I took off to the west.
A few minutes after making my own departure call I heard them advising Flight Service that they were heading to Brisbane, never having seen the ground. This just goes to show that it is much more lady luck than skill that determines whether one gets down in marginal weather conditions.
I again climbed through a dense layer of cloud to 10,000' where I sat above it for most of the way. I decided to commence my descent into Tambo (down to my Lowest Safe Altitude) early in the hope of getting visual reference along the way. This proved to be no problem at all, as the cloud base was 1,500' above the ground. So I spent the last 10 minutes with the fin in the clouds as I tracked toward the Aerodrome.
Waiting for me at the airfield was the local Police Vehicle. After first considering what laws I might have violated in coming here, I noticed the friendly demeanour of the officer and remembered that Heather works for the local police station. Sergeant Damien Houston was her lift to the aerodrome today.
I used the carefully maintained local windsock to judge the wind for my take-off and we blasted off to the east again.
The flight back east took some 2 ¾ hours with us having to descend from 9,000' to 8,000' as we picked up some ice along the way. Dropping down by 1,000' gave us the extra 2°C in warmth that melted the ice.
Arrival into Archerfield necessitated another NDB approach via Amberley. But this time we managed to get visual with the airfield from some 5 miles out and, being the only aircraft silly enough to have its engine turning today, were cleared to land early on and invited to make use of the asphalt as and how we pleased.
Heather's friend was again waiting for us, this time with her porters (aka children) in tow. So I could hand one of Heather's bag to each of them and send them on their merry way, while I headed back out into the drizzle to put FWL to bed.