Nell Allen-Coen of Nethercote is flying to Canberra today to plead for the future of Angel Flight, alongside its founder and chief executive, Bill Bristow.
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The 18-year-old is a veteran of the services of the charity ‘airline’, which co-ordinates non-emergency flights provided free to transport needy patients, relative and carers, and medical supplies.
“I’m so happy to be doing this flight today – to help Angel Flight - to do two flights or one mission for them, after they’ve done 32 missions, that’s 64 flights for me,” Nell said at Merimbula Airport this morning.
“We’re flying up to Canberra. The media are meeting us at Gate 3, the general aviation section, and Bill Bristow will be there too.
“We’ll talk from the heart, like I am now, about what Angel Flight means to me and how wrong it would be to do anything to stop this service.”
A complex pain syndrome sufferer, Nell is worried about changes proposed by a Civil Aviation Safety Authority discussion paper, that suggests organisations such as Angel Flight be brought under a self-administering aviation organisation.
CASA says that that organisation would assess and authorise pilots, conduct pilot efficiency checks and assessment, and approve aircraft types, thereby monitoring safety standards without imposing burdens such as an air operator’s certificate.
However, Angel Flight’s Bill Bristow says the move is “unnecessary, unwarranted and unreasonable.
“There has been no demonstrated safety issue arising out of Angel Flight’s more than 16,500 missions and therefore the ‘safety authority’ appears to be introducing…bureaucratic intervention which does not appear to us to have any foundation.”
Angel Flight pilot Peter Gibson has flown to Merimbula from Sydney today to fly Nell and her dad, Rob Allen, to Canberra in his Cessna 182.
A pilot for 30 years, Peter has flown for Angel Flight since 2002, and has 170 Angel Flights to his credit.
Peter questions the need for CASA’s proposals.
“I think it’s perhaps inappropriate because, basically, Angel Flight is a kind of decentralised operation. They don’t own any aircraft, they don’t employ pilots, and it’s all voluntary.
“I think what CASA is saying is that private flights are perhaps too dangerous or something. They gave people their licences, they certify the aircraft, they give them their medical.
“So if it’s too dangerous, it’s too dangerous for everybody.
“Angel Flight are very, very conservative and they never encourage people to fly in bad weather; in fact they actively discourage them.”
Rob Allen is flying with his daughter to Canberra.
He doesn’t fear Angel Flight’s safety record, but he is afraid that, if CASA is successful in introducing more regulation, that administrative costs will be passed onto users of the much-needed service.
“CASA are proposing new legislation and rules that Angel Flight may have to conform to and their preferred option, option 5, is that basically it would cost an unbelievable amount of money for each pilot and plane to be accredited, although they are already registered CASA pilots,” Rob Allen said.
“I think Bill Bristow is worried that, if they bring those in, Angel Flight would basically cease to exist.”
“The agony Nell has to go through when we have to travel to medical and other support services is unbelievable.
“We just wouldn’t be able to access some of the services if they (Angel Flight) ceased to exist, or we had to pay for the charter,” Mr Allen said.
For daughter Nell, whose condition has deteriorated in recent years, the prospect of no Angel Flight service is beyond her contemplation.
“My health isn’t fantastic today, but I’m excited to get up there and help Angel Flight out.
“They’ve helped me over the years, more than anyone could imagine. I want to do whatever I can to help them now.”
The CASA discussion paper can be downloaded from the CASA website (www.casa.gov.au). Responses to the CASA proposal close on October 10.