The mission description from Angel Flight was:
SUBSEQUENT TRIP REQUEST (5th and 6th Angel Flights):My morning commute to the office, waiting for the train, was interrupted by John Watson from Angel Flight, who wanted to know whether I could stand in for another pilot, Mike Solomon, who had pulled out of a mission that afternoon as the forecast was for Instrument conditions which did not match his Visual qualification. After confirming that the plane had passed its bi-annual instrument check (it went in on Monday), I signed on for this mission.This 5 year old boy has a cleft palate and hare lip. He requires ongoing ENT treatment. He has been called in for a specialist appointment at the Oral Health Unit at the Mater Childrens Hospital.
Mike later called me to ask if he could come along to have a first hand look at the clouds and other bad weather to compare it with the forecast. Seeing that I had a spare seat, I welcomed him along.
Mike called me again as I was approaching Archerfield to let me know that he had arrived, as had our passengers George and his dad Andrew. I met up with them a few minutes later.
There was only one slight problem... no aeroplane. As it turned out the mechanics has only just pulled it out of their hangar. So we trooped around there and piled aboard. With only a slight delay we set off west. George slept most of the way and even his dad got a little bit of shut-eye, while Mike and I, in typical aviator fashion, gas-bagged in the front. The autopilot was not co-operating today, so I had to hand fly the aeroplane all the way today.
About an hour after take-off, earth tremors with the epi-centre being the Tara aerodrome were recorded - coincidentally at the same time as we landed.
Andrew and George were kind enough to pose for a picture, before heading off home.
Mike and I continued our aeronautic pontifications as we headed back east at 9,000' and concluded that Mike could have done the flight in VFR conditions after all.
Again, a little after an hour later we landed back at Archerfield, where Mike helped me refuel and tie-down the aeroplane before we both headed home.
We were back on the ground in Archerfield, after having