Mission 10123 - Grafton to Archerfield

Background

On Thursday the 25th of September 2014 I flew Mission 10123, making it my 193rd Angel Flight.

The mission descriptions from Angel Flight was:

SUBSEQUENT TRIP REQUEST:

A very young child has an as yet undiagnosed series of disabilities including heart defect, cleft palate and developmental delay. Her mother is already facing extreme difficulties and requires the assistance of Angel flights to attend specialist appointments at the Mater Hospital in Brisbane.

Approx Total Weight: 1 x Adult & 1 x Child plus Car seat, stroller and luggage = 97kg

Visit to Taree

When this mission came up, I chose to travel down to Taree to visit my parents on the previous day. So on the day instead of coming down from Archerfield, I came up from Taree. The distances and times are the same - so it made no difference to Angel Flight, but I got the opportunity to spend some time with family.

Taree to Grafton

The weather was overcast when I climbed to altitude and I was soon enveloped in a thick stratum of cloud. Even at 9,000' I was still in it.

Along the way airservices gave me a heads up about deteriorating weather at Grafton, but by doing an early descent, I was able to become visual with the ground at about 5,000', even if the forward visibility was somewhat restricted in rain showers. Eventually I spotted the runway at Grafton and did a straight-in approach.

Grafton to Taree

Having uploaded my pasengers, Ruby and her mum Stephanie, we climbed to 10,000' and settled in in the clouds again. Halfway to Archefield it cleared up and we had an uneventful arrival into Archerfield's runway 28L.

Earth Angel Douglas Harvey was already waiting for us in the terminal building and took Ruby and Stephanie onto the dangerous part of the trip: driving through Brisbane's traffic to the hospital.

Summary

I was back on the ground in Archerfield after having