We quickly boarded Kim and Dennis and completed the safety briefing. Rain, wind and cloud base were worsening as we taxied out and back tracked to the threshold of Rwy05. With all checklist items completed, I applied power and took off into the weather. Cloud base was now at 700 AGL or 1,300 MSL and I was immediately on the instruments. The Navajo handled the climb to 9,000 beautifully with light turbulence and constant rain (really great for the outback to see all this rain). Again, we were in cloud almost all the way until our descent into Bankstown. We filed over Mudgee, Bathurst, Wyatt and Watle.

It was Kim and Dennis's first flight and I think they were very pleased to be on the ground in Bankstown. Kim and Dennis's story is amazing, they are fostering these twin baby girls which is a great effort in itself, but they have already fostered other children as well as HAVING 5 CHILDREN OF THEIR OWN!!!! Unbelievable!!

We landed at Bankstown at about 11:40AM which was 20 minutes ahead of what we thought would be our ETA Bankstown due to Graham organising things for our first flight ahead of schedule.

I would like to thank Graham Bentley (registered Angel Flight pilot and Earth Angel) for his help and company.

Angel Flight report by Graham Bentley

The mission was completed this morning as the return journey from Mission M59. It was raining heavily as we left Coonamble at 0945 am and it was solid cloud and rain almost all the way to Bathurst when breaks started to appear. Travelling was smooth. We landed at Bankstown at 1125 am and dropped Kim and Dennis at RWH Randwick at 12.25 pm.

Angel Flight 2 report by Chris J Lee

This was an amazing trip. It started when I met the twins girls and Dennis and Kim as they arrived at Airtex Aviation terminal at Bankstown good and early, having been brought from the hospital by taxi. The babies were two tiny sleeping faces, swathed in rugs, each just 3kg and lovingly borne by the strong arms of Dennis and Kim. We were soon loaded and airborne, Dennis having expressed some concern about the size of the Baron (I think they came down on a Navajo!) - then climbing up through the low cloud over Sydney to reach the blue sky and sunshine above. The girls had little bonnets with padding over their ears as some protection against the noise, but both slept pretty much throughout the 1 hour 20 minute flight, sucking dummies and tiny fingers flexing. Despite us arriving 25 minutes early at Coonamble, cousin 'Bronco' was already waiting with his car . The girls were slipped into the two baby capsules on the back seat and after a quick chat Bronco started up and headed off towards town.

I feel sure that our infant passengers' luck has turned, with what struck me as amazingly gentle love, and an extended family of children and cousins to care for them.

There was a poignant contrast between this angel flight and a commerical flight I'd done 24 hours earlier - taking 2 young women offenders with 3 police escorts from court in regional NSW to detention in Sydney.