Mission 5306 - Archerfield to Roma

Background

On Wednesday the 2nd of June 2010 I flew Mission 5306, making it my 136th Angel Flight.

The mission descriptions from Angel Flight was:

INITIAL TRIP REQUEST:

A young girl from Roma is severely disabled with cerebral palsy and quadriplegia. She has medical appointments in Brisbane.

Although she is in a wheelchair/stroller, her father is confident he can lift her in and out of the aircraft without any assistance.

Archerfield to Roma

Bethany and Dale were dropped off on time. I collected them from the terminal building and Dale and I installed Bethany in her seat in the back of the plane.

With the wheelchair and other bags safely stowed in the back, we began our taxi for the active runway. The conditions were overcast and looked foreboding, so much so that the tower offered us an Instrument departure. We declined and headed off to the west at 1000' before contacting Amberley Approach for clearance and soaring into the muck.

Before too long we were cleared to 10,000'. On passing about 7,000' we emerged into brilliant sunshine and spent most of the rest of the flight on top. It started to get broken and rise toward us as we headed west.

Our descent had us soon in the clear again and we affected a landing on runway 36 at Roma.

Waiting behind the fence were Bethany's sisters, Faith and Hannah as well as her mum Leesa. It was a delight to witness Hannah's beaming on seeing her Dad again after one night's absence.

Roma to Archerfield

Dale and I unpacked the plane and I got them all landside again before re-starting the engine and heading east again.

The weather was much as it had been on the way out, neccessitating an NDB approach into Archerfield via the Amberley beacon. However I became visual just after the Final Approach Fix and could then do a visual arrival without grounding all the other VFR traffic.

Summary

I was back home at Archerfield having: