The mission descriptions from Angel Flight were:
Mission 6541 (Archerfield to Blackall) - INITIAL TRIP REQUEST:This gentleman lives in a remote rural community and is required to be in Brisbane for an urgent oncology consult and subsequent treatment.
The round trip would take a week without the assistance of Angel flight. Due to his condition he is unable to drive to Brisbane and the logistics and cost of public transport are staggering.
Mission 6594 (Blackall to Toowoomba) - SUBSEQUENT TRIP REQUEST:A woman from Blackall has been recently diagnosed with cancer. After significant surgery, the lady now requires chemotherapy treatment at Toowoomba Hospital.
An Angel Flight (plus the friendly face of an Earth Angel) would be a very welcome alternative to the ten hour drive and may also improve recovery after treatment.
This time I would stop off in Charleville on the way in order to have sufficient fuel to get them back to Toowoomba.
The weather forecast called for slight head winds which made getting to Blackall a little doubtful. While I would have enough fuel to get there, I might not have enough to continue on to the next fuel stop, Charleville. So with this in mind I warned my passengers, Gary and Hazel, that, depending on actual fuel burn and progress we might have to stop roughly half way to Blackall, at Roma, to put some juice into the tanks.
We set off into the largely clear skies with Gary next to me while Hazel was in the back. We settled in at 10,000' and watched as the fuel kept on supplying the engine with very little progress to report in terms of ground speed. So, about half an hour out of Roma I informed Flight Service of a series of amendments to my next three legs for the day. The long suffering operator took down details for the leg Archerfield-Roma and Blackall-Roma before asking me to submit the next two legs over the phone to someone else.
We found the aerodrome at Roma without too much ado and lined up behind a Chieftain that had just finished refueling. Having pumped some 119l of Avgas into the tanks, we re-boarded the aeroplane as another Chieftain lined up behind us to get his fuel. We set off to the west again and climbed back to altitude. Flight Service informed us of conflicting traffic; The Chieftain that had refueled behind us was cruising at 8,000' for Longreach, but being slightly faster was scheduled to be in the same place at the same time when we were to arrive at Blackall. So at the top of descent we talked to each other - with him being a mere three or four miles behind me I decided it prudent to do one orbit to let him pass underneath before commencing my descent. I spotted him halfway through the turn, so separation was assured.
Gary and Hazel were happy to deplane and Narell, my passenger for the next leg to Toowoomba, was already waiting for me too. Having been told tall stories of my flying prowess (or lack thereof) by Gary and Hazel, she was initially a little hesitant in coming to the aeroplane.
We landed at Toowoomba and I taxied to the Aeroclub to find some fuel for the aeroplane.
Narell's daughter was already waiting at the Aeroclub to take her into town, while I busied myself putting 233 litres of Avgas aboard.
After shutdown I contemplated that this flight was the best birthday present I could have asked for on the day.