Melo965

I can't take credit for the paint job, but she really looks great, especially when the sun reflects just right. The controls are well harmonized, she flies wonderfully! Flies even better than before now that the conflicts between the joystick rudder yaw and the rudder pedals are all sorted out. To be honest, I had beginners luck in this Rally. Didn't really do much calculating and math until after leg 3 when I had the V2. Looking forward to the rest of your Lysander flights! Always enjoy your writeups.

Leg 8. Gallup Municipal NM (KGUP) to Flagstaff Pulliam AZ (KFLG) 143 miles. Estimated time = 39 minutes. This flight was fairly routine, getting used to these Rally flights. Same setup as before, using FSX Acceleration, Active Sky 2016 for weather, and Little NavMap for navigation. Flying with leading edge wing tanks at 50% and fuselage tanks full for this leg. The weather looks pretty decent for this leg. My SkyVector check showed that there was some higher altitude terrain near the starting point and the destination, but not much to worry about in between. Holding short for ATC clearance at runway 6. Ready to add throttle and get going. Taking off to the East so I will have to swing around to get on course. Only 3 minutes into the flight and already over 11,000 ft. I love how nimble this Spitfire is! That was fun! Back down under 9,000 ft and on the way. There probably is a river in that canyon below. More canyons behind me on the left. I think that is the small community of Dilkon off to the right. That is Chimney Butte below me. There are a number of similar Buttes scattered around the landscape. More than half way there now. Not much to see out here in the middle of nowhere. That small river that you can see faintly under my left wing eventually feeds into the Grand Canyon. The view from inside the cockpit. Still pretty boring so far. I have had a right quartering tailwind most of the way so gradually slowing down as I go. Almost to Flagstaff, and the scenery is more interesting too. Estimated Arrival looking pretty good so far. Resisted the urge to speed up just in case. Following the plan to overfly the airport center and then make a right teardrop turn to get on the downwind leg for runway 3. Here is the diagram of my flight path. Not perfect but reasonably well executed. This is also what I wanted to do on the previous landing for leg 7, which was not very well executed. Live and learn. On final for runway 3. Safely down and stopped before the taxiway. Touched down 5 seconds early. Parked and shut down at Flagstaff Pulliam AZ (KFLG). I saw a few priests get on that charter plane over there. I overheard that they are headed out west looking for some wayward nuns. My leg 8 route. Used 43.5 gallons of fuel this leg. I was grateful that the weather cooperated for this leg as well. A more scenic view of my parking spot. Time from engine start to engine shutdown = 54 minutes. Leg 8. Gallup Municipal NM (KGUP) to Flagstaff Pulliam AZ (KFLG) 143 miles. Estimated time = 39 minutes. Actual time = 38 minutes. V1 (Wheels up to Wheels down.) I touched down only 5 seconds too soon but that still counts as V1

I have no doubts that Kit can do it!

Thanks a lot! I have had TONS of practice flying Spitfires in FS! We can take turns flying on each others wing.

Not a coffee drinker, but I will bring the root beer floats to celebrate!

Yes tons of fun. I really enjoyed it too!

Welcome to the finish line. I will wander down to the beach to meet up with you and the gang.

TomPenDragon, Congratulations for keeping the current #1 spot. It was close but you can take lead and I will be your wingman!

I built three airfields for FSX for the Silver Spitfire round the world flight (from 2019). There were 3 missing airfields out of the 74 stops on the journey. One of them had trees on the runway and it took about a month of trying every trick in the book before I finally solved the tree problem.

Yes, my favorite Spitfire!

I am going to again fly first and write the report later as the end of the month is today. It was a lot of fun and I am glad that I was invited to participate. Leg 10. Needles CA (KEED) to Hector VOR to Santa Monica Municipal CA (KSMO) 200 miles. Estimated time = 55 minutes. Here is the final picture from this leg, more to follow. Parked at Santa Monica Municipal CA (KSMO). This last leg was the most challenging for a few reasons which will be clear in my report. I will complete my flight reports as soon as I can in flight order. Leg 10. Needles CA (KEED) to Hector VOR to Santa Monica Municipal CA (KSMO) 200 miles. Estimated time = 55 minutes. Actual time = 54 minutes. V1

Buck, thanks for the reminder. PP, my revised Estimated time for leg 10 to KSMO is 55 minutes, as I am also routing around 29 Palms so I don't get in trouble with the FAA. Adding Hector VOR to my flight plan.

AWESOME! Great work!

Glad you got down safely. Any landing . . . .

You had all legs V3 or lower. That is still good precision and effort that you can be proud of!

Looks Great! Very cool!

No guns, but cameras blazing away!

We both got V0 on leg 6. Maybe we will also both get V0 on leg 9! Sending positive vibes!!!

Thank you very MUCH PP!!! It worked!! I am going to again fly first and write the report later as the end of the month is tomorrow. Leg 9. Flagstaff Pulliam AZ (KFLG) to Needles CA (KEED) 147 miles. Estimated time = 40 minutes. Here is the final picture from this leg, more to follow. Parked at Needles CA (KEED). Flew between the mountains and the clouds but there was room enough to get through. Leg 9. Flagstaff Pulliam AZ (KFLG) to Needles CA (KEED) 147 miles. Estimated time = 40 minutes. Actual time = 40 minutes. V0 (Wheels up to Wheels down.)

Leg 7. Moriarity NM (0E0) to Gallup Municipal NM (KGUP) 140 miles. Estimated time = 38 minutes. This flight, in hindsight, was all about Aeronautical decision-making (ADM) as you will see. Same setup as before, using FSX Acceleration, Active Sky 2016 for weather, and Little NavMap for navigation. Flying with wing tanks at 50% and fuselage tanks full for this leg. Beacuse I knew the terrain was getting higher as we flew west, checked SkyVector first during my flight planning. Mount Taylor at 11,301 ft altitude will be just to my left about half way to Gallup Municipal. Should I be trotting when half way to Gallup? The weather, for a change, looked pretty clear for this leg. The runway sign off in the distance reads 26-8. The winds dictated a takeoff from runway 26 so I headed over there. Holding short for ATC clearance at 26-8. Still has not dawned on me that I am at runway 8 instead of runway 26. Duh . . . Got ATC clearance and took off. Had a bit of trouble keeping lined up on the takeoff roll and was working the rudder more than usual. Got up in the air and on course and as I was closing the canopy realized that I never started the wheels up timer. Then also realized that I took off on the wrong runway. The wind pushing from behind explained some of the rudder issues. This, so far, is a good example of what not to do in the ADM process. If your decision making leads you to make a few mistakes, think about taking a break or even waiting until a different day to fly. Almost every crash is a result of a string of minor errors or wrong decisions strung together. On the long taxi to runway 26. I decided to just start over and use the correct runway this time. Holding short at Runway 26 waiting for ATC clearance to take the runway. I had pre-flighted the Spitfire properly but I noticed that my screen capture program was not very responsive. As a result the flight was saved here and the computer was rebooted. Now back in business and ready to proceed, I hope. About to add power and get going. Remembered the Wheels Up timer this time too. Climbing out and leaving Moriarity behind. The view ahead. Climbing through 8,800 ft. at the moment. Glad there are no clouds obscuring the terrain this time. Still climbing through 9,100 ft. Aiming for that notch in the mountains straight ahead. Approaching the suburbs of Albuquerque. Can see Albuquerque International Sunport (KABQ) up ahead on the left. Albuquerque passing by below me. Glad those mountains in the background were not on my flight route. Passing Albuquerque International Sunport (KABQ) on my left. A huge airport, over a mile high, and with 4 runways at different headings. The wind direction must shift around here sometimes. Still over Albuquerque. That is the Rio Grande below. The length of the Rio Grande is 1,896 miles (3,051 km), making it the 4th longest river in the United States and in North America. It originates in south-central Colorado and flows to the Gulf of Mexico. Flying just under 9,500 ft. Double Eagle II Airport (KAEG) is on the right. About 1/4 of the way there now. Climbing through 10,800 ft. Not much to see of interest behind me. Approaching Mount Taylor ahead. Will have to get above 11,000 ft to safely pass by. Passing Mount Taylor, flying just under 14,500 ft. Plenty of clearance. About half way there. I like this weather report. Clouds: None Reported! Descending and leaving Mount Taylor behind. Back to IFR or IFT. Road on the left, train tracks on the Right. Passing some interesting scenery on the left. It is part of the Cibola National Forest. Can't quite see Bluewater Lake off in the distance. Getting close to the destination. My ADM for this flight was pretty good up until this point. My original plan was to overfly the airport at 1000 ft above field elevation, then make a right teardrop approach to the downwind for runway 6 and landing to the North-East. If I had done that, probably would have had another V0. Instead I got nervous that I was going to be late and turned more to the south to make a more direct approach to runway 6. Destination in sight on the right. Flaps and gear down and angling for the runway. Not the best approach angle. Another ADM mistake. At this point I should have called a missed approach and gone around the left hand traffic pattern. If I had done that might have gotten a V0 or at worst a +V1. Instead I comitted to the straight ahead landing. Touchdown 2 minutes early - V2 for this leg. At least I got the Spitfire stopped before the last taxiway so I could turn off. Here is the disgram of my flight path on approach and landing. Not too pretty, but another landing good enough to walk away from. My leg 7 route. Used 47 gallons of fuel this leg. Parked at Gallup Municipal Only two more legs to go. Time from engine start to engine shutdown = 58 minutes. Leg 7. Moriarity NM (0E0) to Gallup Municipal NM (KGUP) 140 miles. Estimated time = 38 minutes. Actual time = 36 minutes. V2 (Wheels up to Wheels down.)

I just checked. A number of them are repaints, but I have 44 Spitfires in my FSX Hangar!

Just for fun, I took off from KFLG with full fuel and was able to get pretty close to the reported altitude ceiling of 44,000 ft for the Spitfire Mk XI. Note the contrail behind which was a problem during wartime sorties.

I have enjoyed every camera pass that I was able to accomplish during this Rally. It is nice not having other aircraft hunting me and trying to shoot me down, as was the case in WWII. This aircraft, PL965, completed 40 missions in WWII. And yes, speed was life on those missions.

Of course I meant to say Mount Taylor, spell check strikes again. Mount Tabor is in Israel.

Right now I am very fortunate that the Spitfire does not have a cabin. Not keeping a lit candle on my lap, no matter how cute!