Four year old Alister had a follow up appointment planned after the removal of a cataract from his right eye in 2003. Mum wanted to be able to return same day to minimise the days away from starting school. Dad is out of work and mum has just started a new job and wanted to avoid taking time off also.

Story and thank you from Jodi, Alister's mother.

"Our GP Dr Harry Jacobs diagnosed Alister with a possible cataract on his 3rd bitrhday, we then had an appointment with a local specialist who confirmed Dr Jacobs diagnosis putting our birthday plans on hold. After seeing the specialist he told us that he wanted to do a CAT scan to rule out any possible causes or other conditions as cataracts in kids Al's age are extremely rare. Meanwhile Peter and I were getting married in less than one month's time. Alister had his scan beginning of August, which came back all clear. Then we were reffered to a specialist at the Royal Children's Hospital in Brisbane. We got married on the 10th of August and a week later we were in Brisbane scheduling Alister's surgery for the beginning of September. On the way back from our first trip we had an encounter with "skippy" which has now increased our insurance costs as well. When we returned for Alister's surgery we had to stay in Brisbane for 10 days, and for that period of time we had to stay with friends, Alister needed 3 lots of drops, every 4 hours for the first 5 or so days, then every 6 hours and a different lot at night time. This needed to happen for about a month or so. When the doctors gave us the all clear to come home, they told us that Alister's catatract had been caused by a hole in his lens that he was born with and had never had perfect sight in his right eye, which shocked us both a little. He also mentioned that because this condition is rarely seen in children, his lens had been dissected in to millions of little pieces and sent all over the world for research.

After that we had monthly trips to Brisbane for check-ups, driving down on a Wednesday night after my husband had been working all day. He would come home have a sleep and then get up around 10.30 pm and we would get in the car and drive to Brisbane ... 12 hours down and 12 hours home; 2500kms round trip and all of about 15 hours sleep over 3 days. Peter would usually have a sleep in the car while I took Al and Josh with me to the appointment. We have worked out that since August 2003 we have done around 25000-30000 kms just driving to Brisbane and back in the hope that one day Alister will have 20/20 vision.

When I heard about Angel Flight on the tv, I wondered what would it take to qualify to receive such an amazing donation. These plilots allow people to receive medical treatment that may not be possible to receive in their local area. It was such a relief and a blessing for both Peter and I as we both have recently started new jobs and couldn't afford to have a lot of time of work. I had one day as leave owing to me. Thankfully my employers gave it to me. ( I think that they would have done anyway because they are great people). Things for Joshua could continue as normal. Alister loved the flight home. He got to wear the special head-phones that the pilots wear to communicate with the control towers and listen to all the other pilots talk. Once he realised the he could hear himself talking in the head-phones he kept making silly noises. Fred Malcolm, our pilot, is an absolute Angel. He thought of everything to make our journey safe and memorable. Alister received a special Angel Bear before take off and during the flight Fred let Alister into the cockpit to look at all the different gadgets. He held the "steering wheel" and pretended he was flying the plane while it was on autopilot. Alister was able to do anything, move around the plane as much as he wanted.

Since having the opportunity to see how Angel Flight can benefit anyone in need and not necessarily with serious illnesses, or a specfic age, has inspired me to get the word out about the Angel Flight organisation. This charity gives people in rural areas the opportunity to receive specialised medical treatment that they may not be able to receive otherwise. Not only is travelling great distances by car physically and mentally hard on you, there is also the financial side of things as well. Peter and I found it hard to do anything eg save, by new clothes/shoes.

My whole family is very grateful to everyone involved in co-ordinating these missions. They are the real angels to everyone in the Angel Filght team, to Fred our pilot and his friend, who flew us to Mackay just so we could get home the same day. They had another 2.5-3 hour flight ahead of them before they got home and then had to get up and go to work the next day. There are not enough words to say thank you and express our gratitude to the people who are associated with the Angel Flight charity.

You are all angels from above."

Angel flight 1 by Virgin Blue
This is Virgin Blue's 11th mission.
Previous mission for Virgin Blue - M309 AF1.

Due to a period of high activity, no pilots were available for this flight. Angel Flight fully sponsored this commercial flight.

Frederick Malcolm - Pilot

Angel flight 2 by Fred Malcolm
This is Fred's 2nd mission.
Previous mission for Fred - M289 AF2.

Comment by Fred

"The time is 4.30 on Thursday afternoon, and Jeff (my co-pilot for the evening) and I are preparing the aeroplane for the 2hr 10 min flight from Redcliffe to Mackay. Today our passengers are Jodi and Alister. Alister had an appointment at the Royal Children's Hospital today and has just had news that his patch only needs to be on for 2 hours each day. "

"Jodi and Alister were travelling very light, with only the bare essentials. All loaded into the aeroplane and setting course at 4.55. Our flight planned route would take us over Maroochydore, then inland direct to Rockhampton and onto Mackay via Probo. The weather was forecast to be good for the flight, however at ten thousand feet the cloud hampered our view of the coast and towns along the route."

Alister awarded his new Angel Bear for being so patient in front of the camera.

"As we continued enroute, we had a very good view of a Jetcraft Metro doing the opposite direction coastal run. We managed to pass abeam the aircraft and Alister and Jodi had a good look."

"The sunset at 10,000ft on that evening was one of the most beautiful that I had seen. The golden colours of the sunset contrasting with the deep blues and the night time black made for a perfect picture."

The golden colours of the sunset contrasting with the deep blues and the night time black made for a perfect picture.

"As we approached overhead Rockhampton, it was apparent that Brisbane air traffic controllers were having some equipment problems as the controller broadcast with a certain amount of urgency in his voice the "all aircraft this frequency, Brisbane has had radar failures and radar services are terminated". For the remainder of the flight we were operating on position reporting.

At 30nm from Mackay, we were calling the tower with our inbound report and on descent to 5000ft. The tower informed us that we were for bay 4 on the main apron and that the security officer would meet us there with the rest of Jodi and Alister's family.

The evening was clear and we could see the airport from 25nm out. Jodi pointed out the dozens of ships in the harbour waiting to be loaded at the port and on their way with their cargo."

Fred and Jeff, Jodi and Alister, all enjoying a Kodak moment.

"The night landing out of the way, we taxied up to bay 4 at Mackay airport. Alister was keen to see his dad and as soon as the engines were shut down he was out of the aeroplane.

To witness the family reunion was the best thing about this Angel flight.

After a few photos were taken and making sure that nothing was left in the aircraft, Jodi, Alister and family were off for dinner. It had been a long 13 hours so it was off to home and bed for some well-deserved shuteye.

For us, it was over to the fuel bowser to fill up and then off into the darkness of southern night sky for a return leg to Redcliffe."