SUBSEQUENT TRIP REQUEST: 2nd and 3rd flights.

Four year old Cooper from Wellington has been diagnosed with a brain tumour. This Angel flight was to attend follow up appointments at the Childrens Hospital Westmead with an oncologist, to have an MRI and to see a specialist at the eye clinic.

Peter Gibson - Pilot

Debra Morgan - Earth Angel
(Debra's 37th Angel flight)

Angel flight 1 by Peter Gibson
This is Peter's 33rd Angel flight

Comment by Peter

"On Sunday, I checked the weather and found very high winds and severe turbulence were forecast. I rang Guy and asked if we could go at about 8.00, to miss the worst of the turbulence. He could not make it before 10.00 and so I agreed to that. On reflection, that was not a good decision and I should have cancelled. On Monday as we set off from Wedderburn the wind was already very strong. As we passed Katoomba, we already had about 50-60 knots of headwind at 8,000 ft. The trip was fairly choppy but tolerable, and very slow indeed.

We arrived at a windy Wellington at about 10.10. We loaded up Guy and Cooper very quickly and got on our way. At first we got the advantage of a good tail wind and things were quite smooth. Cooper and Guy were loving it, but as we got closer to the mountains, things started to get very rough. One by one, Airservices advised SPECI's at Mudgee, Parkes, Orange. The ATIS at Bankstown was giving severe turbulence warnings and there were delays, severe turbulence and windshear at Sydney. Even the jets were reporting problems at 36,000 ft.

As we passed Lithgow, our passengers were becoming very uncomfortable. I requested and got a climb to 9,000 ft direct to Bankstown, in the hope the air would be smoother there. It was not. Airservices kindly took the trouble to remind me of the sigmet on occasioanl severe turbulence below 10,000. It was certainly not occasional! Things were becoming so rough, I was becoming concerned about the integrity of the airframe and Guy was by now breathing into a sick bag. Fortunately, Cooper slept through it all.

As we passed Mount Wilson we hit what I can only describe as some of the biggest bumps I have ever experienced. Guy was becoming distressed. I decided to turn back to Bathurst. As I did of course, a SPECI was declared at Bathurst. Fortunately runway 26 at Bathurst was into wind and we landed uneventfully at about 11.15.

Later I heard that the wind had been up to 55 knots. Certainly the terminal building felt like it might fly itself and it was becoming difficult to stand up outside. Even a Jet attempting a landing on runway 35, gave up the idea and did a 'sideways' go around! Then came the decision about what to do. Angel Flight quickly took care of Guy and Cooper offering them commercial flights at 5.30pm that day, which they gratefully accepted.

My co-pilot John and I decided we would also like to fly back and come back another day for the plane but we found the flights prohibitively expensive and decided to hire a car as we would need to come back to get the plane in any case. It then dawned upon us that we would be back in Sydney long before Guy and Cooper and would need to pass close to Westmead Hospital.

Guy was very unhappy to be waiting until 5.30 and decided he would prefer to come along with us in the hire car. I offered to take them down to Bathurst for lunch and drive them around to kill some time so that they would be ready to catch their plane, but Guy declined saying he did not want to go to Bathurst at all, giving a personal but understandable reason for not wishing to do so.

I got Cooper a Happy Meal from Maccas, which he enjoyed and then we set off for Sydney. Cooper again slept most of the way but when he was awake he was a great kid, bright chatty and cheeky as one would expect a 4 year to be, but he is clearly very poorly. We arrived at Westmead at about 4.30.

I enjoyed Cooper and Guy's company and was greatly impressed by both of them. Guy is 110% committed to his brave little son. It was so sad to see that that fantastic little boy so ill but fantastic to see the loving relationship beyween the two. I hope and pray Cooper gets well soon. The next day, I returned to Bathurst to pick up the plane and had an uneventful trip back to Wedderburn. I am so sorry the mission turned out this way. "

Gunter Schreiber - Pilot

Kayley Harris - Earth Angel
(Kayley's 10th Angel flight)

Angel flight 2 by Gunter Schreiber
This is Gunter's 2nd Angel flight