On 9th December 2019 I did another Angel Flight in MSF, this time with Mike. Mike flew Redcliffe to Tara, a small town of 2300 people on the Darling Downs west of Dalby.

We had to fly out there, pick up a sick boy and his grandmother and fly them to Brisbane where the boy was to have a checkup at the Royal Children’s Hospital. We flew IFR, which was very useful as we had cloud for the first 30 minutes and then it was hazy for the remainder. Tara is in a coal seam gas area so there are quite a few gas wells in the vicinity. Otherwise it’s flat grazing country.

We overflew the airstrip to check the windsock that was showing a slight northerly wind. From there we headed a few miles south for an orbit over the town.

We could then head due north for a straight in approach on RWY35 and after a smooth landing by Mike we taxied to the apron.

Our passengers turned up within 5 minutes, we climbed in, gave them a quick briefing and I took off direct to Archerfield, once again IFR. As we climbed out of Tara we flew over some gas fields.

We overflew Oakey air base at 7000ft.

The cloud built up again after Oakey and we descended in IMC, becoming visual at about 3500ft.

After Mike’s super smooth landing at Tara he just had to goad me as we approached Archerfield, wondering whether I could better it. Lo and behold, I greased it in a landing so smooth you couldn’t even feel it. The grandmother was very impressed and told us so. Suitably buoyed by her compliment, I taxied over to the terminal building. It was a great flight and we were both very happy to be able to assist the young boy with his treatment.

After handing our passengers over to the “earth angel” we left MSF out the front of the terminal building and headed to the nearby cafe for a drink and something to eat.

Then Mike flew the quick hop back to Redcliffe via the Walter Taylor Bridge.