Melo965

Kit's assessment was generous. Attempted landing at Aspen Colorado in the mountains in the dead of winter, I think it was snowing too. And my first day trying to land a DC-9. It was bitter cold, so his helicopters saved all the pax from freezing to death.

The Falcon it is!

Good work! More people are finishing. I am only half way there, so better get some flights in.

Good job! The aircraft and the scenery look great.

Thanks, but I am not sure how I do it sometimes too. For the previous two legs before the Tradewind destination, I was about 3/4 of the way there and behind schedule, and had to speed up to try to make it close to on time. For the Tradewind leg, I purposely flew a bit faster throughout. That landing was much more relaxed because it was not rushed. One thing that really helps is how familiar I am with this aircraft. I am in the process of recreating the Silver Spitfire flight around the world that was completed in 2019. I have 37 legs of that flight completed and documented for time, distance, fuel burn, and altitude. So I had a lot of test flight data already compiled to use to estimate for this Rally. Or maybe it is just the Luck of the Irish from my grandparents.

Thanks, got it. I will check it out. I did find the TIE fighter, the X-Wing, and the Millennium Falcon in the file library. Which one should I pick???

Are you aware that A2A Simulations released the P-40 Warhawk or Kittyhawk (depending on where you are from) for free during the pandemic. Also Aeroplane Heaven's FSX aircraft are all available for free at Orbx. This Globe Swift, for example, would be a good touring aircraft for this type of Rally. There are a number of Aeroplane Heaven aircraft to choose from at Orbx. I do have some payware aircraft too. Can't resist a Spitfire, so I also have the A2A Spitfire And another A2A aircraft is the Comanche 250 which would also be great fun for a Rally.

Yes I did enjoy it, all but that one minute of panic in the middle. I have been hand flying all the legs so far, And enjoying the weather that adds variety to the flights.

Welcome aboard! Is that a De havilland Caribou? Looks like an interesting aircraft.

I tend to fly warbirds and general aviation aircraft almost exclusively. Kit can tell you about an online flight in a DC-9 when he and the other pilots had to jump into helicopters and come rescue me. My track record in airliners is pretty awful.

Thanks! I enjoyed your last flight description a lot. You leapfrogged past me to Moriarity in one flight. Well done! And good leg times too! I will have to look that helicopter up. I have not done much Helo flying in FSX so far.

Leg 5. Cordell Municipal OK (F36) to Tradewind TX (KTDW) 140 miles. Estimated time = 38 minutes. Same setup as before, using FSX Acceleration, Active Sky 2016 for weather, and Little NavMap for navigation. Flying with fuselage tanks full and leading edge tanks half full. Will have no worries about fuel reserves this time. I have had Active Sky for a while now, but am using it consistantly for the first time for this Rally. I can read the METARs, but I really like how the weather is seamlessly integrated into FSX by Active Sky. My last leg was flown at 6,500 ft most of the way. After seeing the weather for this leg, my initial plan was to fly at 4,500 feet. It did not work out that way as you will see. Before the official Rally flight (with current weather enabled) I took off from Cordell Municipal and did a fast climb heading slightly west in the Spitfire just to check the cloud coverage. Broke out in the clear above the solid clouds just over 10,000 ft. Then I flew back and landed at F36 and added fuel to the levels stated above. Pulled up the weather map today and this is how it looked. There are clouds or precipitation forcast almost the whole way there. Parked at Cordell Municipal just after engine start for another Air Rally leg. Holding short at Runway 17 waiting for ATC clearance to take the runway. I taxied out to the runway and did not bother to backtrack to the numbers. A ton of runway ahead of me for takeoff as far as this Spitfire is concerned. A good picture of my office for the next hour or so. Lined up on the runway and about to add throttle and get going. Weather looks pretty ominous ahead. Does not look any better from inside the cockpit. On the way but only at just under 2,900 ft altitude. Staying just under the cloud layer. New Cordell is already fading away behind me under those clouds. Down to 2,600 ft staying just under the cloud layer. I am flying IFR (I Follow Roads). This is getting worse. Now at 2,300 ft. Flying into IMC (Instrument Meterological Conditions) In the real world I would have turned around by now, or more likely not flown at all today. Still at 2,300 ft. Definitely IMC ahead. Looking more and more like a really bad idea. Up over 2,700 ft, but just need to drop down AGAIN to get under the clouds. Hand flying this bird every second on this leg. Finally left that cloud bank behind and in the clear for now. Can maybe relax a bit. Not much to see here in the middle of Oklahoma. Climbing through 3,300 ft. About a minute before this picture was taken, I found myself in clouds again. Started to let down slowly to get under the cloud layer AGAIN, but I was worried because I knew that the terrain was gradually increasing in altitude as I got closer to Tradewind. Still letting down but could not see the ground yet. Then decided it was too risky and initiated a climb out. Just then (at about 1,950 ft) I got a glimpse of the ground about 50 feet below me. If I had waited a few more seconds to climb out then my participation in this Air Rally would have abruptly ended. I learned my lesson. No more Scud Running! You can understand why I did not snap a picture to share at that moment. Here is the weather map with the cloud that tried to kill me. Approaching the town of Shamrock on the left. Back to IFR (I Follow Roads). Can see the edge of McLean/Gary County airport on the right. Approaching the town of McLean. Passing Lake McClellan in the McClellan Creek National Grassland. Can even see traffic on the highway below from 3,500 ft. About two thirds of the way to Tradewind now. Flying over the dirt strip at Eagles Aerodrome. Can barely tell the difference between the airfield and the surrounding terrain. Can't resist the opportunity to do a photo run over Rick Husband Amarillo International (KAMA). Leaving Rick Husband Amarillo International behind. (My brakes are not on even though it shows that in the lower left. My MFG Crosswind rudder pedals display brakes or differential brakes in the lower left almost all the time.) Over Amarillo Texas. Unlike for Maverick, the pattern was clear. Called the Tower and got permission to do a low fast pass over Runway 17 at Tradewind. Another view of my low pass. Then I joined the Right Hand traffic pattern for Runway 17. Runway 17 at Tradewind is a Right Pattern to avoid the ILS approach for Runway 04 at nearby Rick Husband Amarillo International. My curved approach to final on Runway 17. Touched down a bit left of the centerline again this time. And right on time! My leg 5 route. Used 53.4 gallons of fuel this leg. Parked at Tradewind Texas. Another Air Rally leg completed. Time from engine start to engine shutdown = 58 minutes. Leg 5. Cordell Municipal OK (F36) to Tradewind TX (KTDW) 140 miles. Estimated time = 38 minutes. Actual time = 38 minutes. V0 (Wheels up to wheels down)

Totally agree.

Wow! Cool cockpit setup! You are joining us in style!

I use a free program called Greenshot to save all my Rally photos. It sits in the system tray on the lower right and takes pictures of a region , a window, or a whole screen in a second and saves it to the desktop by default. It does pause FSX as it takes the picture. I have gotten adept at pausing FSX and the elapsed timer running on my phone - snapping the greenshot pictures - unpausing both FSX and the phone timer, and continuing my flight.

Yes, it is a beautiful airplane. Welcome!

I think that is typical, especially the further west you go. In my old stomping grounds in California most airports were like that.

Wow! That was a very close call! Glad you landed safely! When I flew my flight lessons in a Cessna 172, I always checked the fuel tanks myself. I went and looked up your helicopter, then came back here and saw it in your profile and signature.

Your Grand Canyon Excursion was fun! I have yet to be there in real life. Have already broken some regs there in the simulator though.

Leg 4. Claremore Regional OK (KGCM) to Cordell Municipal OK (F36) 180 miles. Estimated time = 48 minutes. Same setup as before, using FSX Acceleration, Active Sky 2016 for weather, and Little NavMap for navigation. Flying with fuel only in fuselage tanks this time. The wing leading edge tanks were just worked on at the 50 hour maintenance point, so I decided to fly with those tanks empty for this leg. 85 gallons should still be sufficient for this flight. I should have flown this leg the other day when the weather was CAVU. Pulled up the weather map today and this is how it looked. Should still be able to get there Ok, but it will require some IFR flying. Parked at Claremore Regional, starting the engine for another westward leg. Forecast winds are between 30 to 35 knots blowing from the southwest almost all the way so it should be an interesting flight. Holding short at Runway 17 waiting for ATC clearance to take the runway. Climbing through 3,500 ft on the way to cruise altitude of 6,500 ft. Already in the soup. At cruise altitude, glad to be above the clouds. Time to close the canopy and settle in for the flight to Cordell Municipal. Not what you would ever want to see behind you during the war. There were clouds below on all sides from horizon to horizon. Finally left that cloud layer behind, flying over Tulsa Oklahoma. After less than 3 minutes flight time, another cloud layer ahead. Passing Cushing Municipal on the right. Half way there and 2 minutes ahead of schedule. Passing between two small airfields in a minute. Woodleaf Aero Estates on the left and Myrick on the right. Passing Oklahoma City on the left. Flying over Sundance airport. Changing my flight track further to the south, hoping to avoid those clouds ahead. Those pesky clouds are back again. Flying over El Reno Municipal. Noticed another aircraft converging. It turned out to be a MD-80 but it was 18,000 feet above me, so no factor. On a day like today during the war, the pilot might have to go to an alternate target to get any pictures worth bringing home. Fort Cobb Reservoir below me. Curving south for a straight in approach to Runway 35. My leg 4 route. You might notice that after I passed Fort Cobb Reservoir that my flight track was a bit erratic. I converged with another aircraft that was also a few thousand feet above me. I messed up the external camera views to the extent that it took some time to get the aircraft back in a proper attitude and trimmed. Learned my lesson about trying to take pictures instead of just aviating. These shenanigans put me a bit behind schedule unfortunately. Destination in sight ahead. No flaps yet, might make it on time after all. Spitfire flaps have two settings: 0 degrees or 87 degrees. A slightly hot approach, as our Lysander Rally pilot can confirm is sometimes my style. I am flying a warbird after all. I did manage to touch down on the runway and finally got her stopped just in time. It required a light touch on the brakes so I did not nose over. My mechanic would be very upset if I damaged his prop! As you can see no luck on the centerline this time. Touched down one minute late. Here is the weather map at the end of the flight. This was the most challenging leg so far. I was fortunate that the destination was clear of clouds down to ground level. Engine off and parked at Cordell Municipal. Ready to get some well earned rest. Used 71 gallons of fuel this leg. 14 gallons left. Won't cut it that close on future legs. Time from engine start to engine shutdown = 62 minutes. Maybe there is some wisdom to flying with someone else so they can share the workload, even a nun would have helped on this leg of the journey. Just no room for her in this cramped cockpit. My shoulders are almost touching the sides on both sides. Leg 4. Claremore Regional OK (KGCM) to Cordell Municipal OK (F36) 180 miles. Estimated time = 48 minutes. Actual time = 49 minutes. V1 (Wheels up to Wheels down.)

We had a great time when we visited the Shuttleworth Collection. The Lysander was Magnificent! And the other star of the show, in my opinion, was the Spitfire.

Hope you feel well enough to fly soon.

JSMR I love your instrument panel, very classy!

Awesome, great work!

My centerline record is not as consistant or good as I would like during this Rally. Keeping one eye on the clock is distracting. I always do much better at western Washington airports near home, or when I am visiting you over there in the UK. Of course you landed on the numbers - like normal!