INITIAL TRIP REQUEST: William, a forty-seven year old resident of Swan Hill, required a medical appointment in Melbourne to receive chemotherapy tablets for treatment of his brain tumour. William's vehicle was not operational, and he did not have the funds to repair it.

Angel Flight transported William down to Melbourne for his hour long appointment and returned him the same day.

Angel flight 1 by John Ballantyne
This is John's 10th Angel flight
Previous mission for John - M791 AF2.

John Ballantyne - Pilot

Peter Phillips - Earth Angel
(Peter's 5th Angel flight)

Tony Taggart - Pilot

Peter Phillips - Earth Angel
(Peter's 6th Angel flight)

Angel flight 2 by Tony Taggart
This is Tony's 24TH Angel flight
Previous mission for Tony - M783 AF1.

Comment by Tony
"Well there is nothing like a challenge to get the adrenalin running. Just when we thought that the missions were mundane and "easy peezy" along comes mother nature to keep us in check. Well we had the lot. 37 degrees into Essendon and 35 knot winds, then a cool change and rain, thunder and winds blowing at greater than 35 kts from the other direction. A false start because we just could not take off in the conditions and so went back to the terminal and waited for another 45 minutes for conditions to improve or was that just change a little to allow an escape. The latter I think. So away we went.

Out to the west. and then north and then west again. En route we were listening to the Jet Jockeys diverting 10, 20 and 30 miles to avoid the weather. We squeezed between rain cells and finally broke out into clear weather. But by the time we arrived Swan Hill, Bill was relieved to arrive I'm sure, there was lightning to the west and north. So as soon as we arrived, we had Bill unloaded with the engines powered back so that we did not stop, we had him safely into the terminal area and then the door closed and we were off. Any further delay and we would still be there.

The trip back was pretty good considering what had gone on before and what has hit us later in the evening. We were once again vectored around and the NDB approach into Moorabbin was for real because of the low cloud and incredible smoke haze fronm the extensive State wide fires that are burning unmercifully. I would lke to thank my friend Peter Wollerman for his magnificent contribution to the flight and for making my job so much easier than it would otherwise have been. Best wishes to bill and I hope and pray that his treatment will be successful. Best wishes."