Melo965

I am at John F. Kennedy International Airport (KJFK). Next stop is Allegheny County Airport (KAGC). From there it is an easy flight to Meigs Field.

Looks great!

Halifax International (CYHZ) Canada to John F. Kennedy International Airport (KJFK) USA Pre-flight done, ready to start the engine. The aircraft marshallers helped me turn my Spitfire around before getting started so I would have an easier time taxiing out. In a cold mist and fog! Will wait a bit to open the canopy. Taxi hold to wait for the Cherokee 180 to pass by. The tower tells me that I am the only aircraft taking off after the Cherokee landed, so I may proceed at pilot's discretion. Lined up on runway 15. View is looking back toward the terminal but everything is shrouded in fog. Advancing throttle for take off on runway 15. Using pilot's discretion to get on course as quickly as possible. Saw some lights ahead in the fog and decided to investigate. "Tower, this is Ghostrider requesting a Flyby!" Tower view of my Spitfire. Luckily they can't read my tail number in this pea soup. Full throttle, getting out of Canada as quick as I can. Climbing through 9,300 ft and on course. Grateful to be clear of that fog and mist below. 30 minutes elapsed. Leaving Halifax, although you can't see it below. 1 hour of flight. Flying over the Bay of Fundy with solid overcast below. 1 hour and 20 minutes. Almost feet dry over the USA. 90 minutes of flight. 1 hour and 38 minutes elapsed. Finally able to clearly see some countryside below. 11 minutes shy of 2 hours flying time. 2 hours and 1 minute. Almost directly overhead LaGuardia Airport (KLGA). Staying above 10,000 ft to clear their class B airspace before descent. Down to 1,600 feet near New York City. Couldn't resist a 200 kt 100 foot flyby. Gear and flaps down and approaching John F. Kennedy International Airport (KJFK). My plan was to swing around and land on the longest runway 31L. At 2,200 feet. Tower just informed me that my downwind leg for 31L was just changed to a base leg for 22R due to a large jet that needs 31L. At this point I am way too high for a smooth approach to the new runway. Note to self, pick a smaller airport for the next leg. Curved approach, on short Final for 22R. Over the numbers. Full stop landing. Not my best landing, but down safe. Parked at John F. Kennedy International Airport (KJFK). All those big jets must be parked on the other side of the airport. Next stop is Allegheny County Airport (KAGC) near Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. My old stomping grounds. Here is where I did my first real world landing (with an Instructor) in a Beechcraft Model 19 Musketeer Sport after 2.5 hours of flight instruction.

Excellent job, Kit! Well Done! Note that the second runway on the left at Bremerton with the X was closed before I moved here in 2019. It is currently used as a drag strip for cars. I have only flown aircraft here, in FSX, MS2020, and the Real World.

In this case, range means one way. So with a range of 1,360 miles, the PR Spitfire could go 680 miles to the photographic target and back again. With a 170 gallon slipper tank the published range is 2,301 miles, or 1,150 miles there and back again.

My longest recent flight was just over 800 miles. I can fairly easily fly the published range of 1,360 miles. Once (in my FS98 version of the PRXI) I managed to fly about 2,000 miles from an island off of Southern California to Hilo Hawaii without refuelling.

Gander International (CYQX) to Halifax International (CYHZ) I purposely waited a few days to do this flight. Gave the Gander snow storm plenty of time to move on. Pre-flight done, ready to start the engine. And the weather looks good! Advancing throttle for takeoff on Runway 13. Climbing out through 3,900 feet. Swung around after takeoff. Now on course and at altitude of 10,500 ft. 26 minutes elapsed. Leaving Newfoundland soon. 30 minutes so far. Approaching Cabot Strait. Cockpit view ahead. More clouds building up. 46 minutes, and half way there. 56 minutes. Almost feet dry over Halifax. 1 hour elapsed time. Steady at 11,000 feet. 5 minutes later. Spoke too soon. Lots of turbulence knocking my Spitfire about. She is normally a very stable camera platform, but not in these conditions. 75 minutes so far. Still lots of turbulence at this altitude. Hope that the worst of the weather is behind me. 1 hour and 20 minutes. At Top of Descent point. I descended to 5,000 ft but stayed above the clouds hoping for a convenient gap in the clouds to duck down through. No such luck so I tried a cautious careful descent. (at the red arrow) Got all the way down to 1,000 feet and still could see NOTHING so I climbed back up to about 3,000 feet for safety. My original plan was to land on runway 06 but the winds had shifted enroute so the current arrival runway is runway 15. At 3,300 feet. On downwind leg for runway 15. In clear conditions you would see runway 06 right off my right wingtip. No such luck today! There is method to my madness flying in this soup. Headed for Shubenacadie Grand Lake ahead so I can let down over water and get on base leg for runway 15. At least there I know what the altitude should be. My Base leg map. On Base leg at 140 feet altitude. Gear and flaps down right after this. 980 feet and on Final?? Still searching for runway 15. 860 feet. Found it! Short final. Very glad that they had the runway lights on. Over the numbers. Down safe! Whew! Parked at Halifax International. I was directed to park at one of the gates for a change. Parked near the big jets here. The weather map for this arrival is the worst I have seen so far. Tower view of my Spitfire. Next stop John F. Kennedy International Airport (KJFK) in New York. It will be a longer flight, but easy enough with my leading edge wing tanks topped off.

I'm sure they will be pleased with your Fly-By!

I'm sure you feel right at home here amongst good company.

Hello Alan. Welcome aboard! Glad to have you with us!

Yikes! Glad you landed Ok.

Goose Bay (CYYR) to Gander International (CYQX) Pre-flight done, ready to start the engine. Advancing throttle for takeoff on Runway 08. Climbing out through 1,600 feet. Flew into the base of the clouds at 5,000 ft. Out above the clouds at 6,000 ft. On course and at altitude of 12,000 ft. 30 minutes of flight. At 11,000 ft. 1 hour elapsed time. Was originally going to land on runway 03 but the wind has shifted. Changed flight plan to land on runway 31 at Gander. 62 minutes. At Top of Descent. At 6,300 ft. Long downwind almost parallel to runway 31. Airport in sight to my left. 2 minutes later at 3,200 feet and in a snowstorm. Cockpit view. Climbed to 4,600 ft for safety. Still on long downwind for runway 31. 3 minutes later. On Base leg and at 3,200 feet altitude. 1 minute later and on long final approach. Finally broke out of the clouds at 2,300 feet. Gear and flaps down. Still on a long final approach to runway 31 at 1,500 feet.. View of the runway from the cockpit. Tower view of my Spitfire on final approach. They are probably wondering why I did not divert to a different airport. Over the numbers. Safely down. Not eager to EVER repeat the last 8 minutes of flight! Parked at Gander in the snow storm. Next stop Halifax International (CYHZ)

Yes they work well. Just don't taxi off the side of the runway in a few spots. The runway does not sit on the terrain seamlessly. Looking forward to your enhancements.

Narsarsuaq International (BGBW) in Greenland to Goose Bay (CYYR) in Canada Pre-flight done, ready to start the engine. Advancing throttle for takeoff on Runway 25. Climbing out of Narsarsuaq. Climbing through 7,500 ft. Climbing through 9,600 ft. On course and in clear skies for a change. At 12,000 ft altitude. 30 minutes of flight. Solid clouds below are back again. 67 minutes. Half way to Canada. 90 minutes of flight. 1 hour and 52 minutes so far. Spotted the Canadian shoreline ahead. Feet Dry over Canada. 2 hours and 10 minutes. At Top of Descent. Descending through 5,600 ft. Going through a convenient gap in the clouds. At 2,300 feet and flying parallel to the runway approaching the airport. My original plan was to land straight in on runway 26, but the wind shifted enroute so landing on runway 08 instead. Downwind leg. You can see runway 16 on my left. Base leg. Gear and flaps down. Still on Base leg. Airport in sight. Long final for runway 08. Cockpit view of the runway. Over the numbers. Landed safely. Parked at Goose Bay. Successfully crossed the Atlantic ocean. Next stop is Gander International (CYQX)

Enjoy your improvements. Thanks!

Just right!

I tested out some of the Meigs Field scenery options for FSX. For those of us in FSX - This is the Meigs Field file here in the library that I recommend: meigs_fi.zip 5,013 downloads at last count. FSX Scenery--Meigs Field By Pedro Vendeira, Bob Familton and Dick Stellweg. Even has 3 helipad spots!

Me and my Spitfire XI will be there. Plenty of time to get there from Gander.

I am at Gander International so have the whole North American continent to cross. 10 planned legs 3,212 NM.

Reykjavík Domestic Airport (BIRK) in Iceland to Narsarsuaq International (BGBW) in Greenland Pre-flight done, ready to start the engine. I have other aircraft here at this busy airport. I just wish the cloud cover was not so persistent on these Atlantic ocean flights. Advancing throttle for takeoff on Runway 13. Climbing out. On course and at altitude. Staying between 11,000 and 12,000 feet approximately for these Spitfire flights. Note that I was able to get the Davtron flight time gauge fixed while here in Iceland. Cockpit view ahead. For this longer flight I am also throttling back to about 75% power to have enough fuel to get to the destination safely. 30 minutes of flight. 1 hour of flight. Still nothing to see below but clouds. Half way there at 70 minutes of flight time. 90 minutes elapsed. Steady as she goes, still solid overcast below. 2 hours so far. The Merlin 70 is very reliable, but still glad to see land ahead. Going Feet Dry over Greenland. Lots of snow on the cold landscape below. Top of Descent at 2 hours and 11 minutes of flight. Descending through 7,500 ft. Spotted that ridge line just below and initiated an immediate climb! Staying level at 8,000 feet for a while. Getting close to the airport so added flaps and lowered the landing gear. Finally under the clouds at 5,500 feet. But too close to the airport and much too high. At 4,200 feet now. Initiated a racetrack pattern back to the North to descend toward pattern altitude. Headed South again. At 2,200 ft and runway in sight ahead. Lined up for the runway. Final for runway 25. Landed safely. Parked at Narsarsuaq. My next flight is to Goose Bay (CYYR) in Canada. It will be the longest Spitfire leg at 675 nautical miles. I landed here with 18.5 % fuel remaining for the 668 nautical mile flight so I am not worried about the next leg. No need to call for a tanker the rest of the way home.

A very good writeup, and a very classy aircraft!

Thanks!

Vagar Airport (EKVG) in Faroe Islands to Reykjavík Domestic Airport (BIRK) in Iceland Note that I decided not to land at the larger Keflavík International Airport, also known as Reykjavík–Keflavík Airport (BIKF) airport nearby. Won't have to fight for a landing slot with any Big Iron this way. This flight is also a commemoration of a Compuserve Flight Rally that Kit and I participated in ages ago. Our Compuserve Rally 35 destination was to Reykjavík Iceland. I flew our FS98 Spitfire PR XI PL965 from the USA flying eastward. Kit also flew our PL965 westward from the UK to arrive in Reykjavík. The reason why we were both flying the same aircraft was that we were in the final testing phase before publishing our FS98 Spitfire PL965 here to this web site. Kit had the wonderful idea to do a Photo Reconnaissance camera pass of the Vagar airport on his way past on the way to Iceland. Kit flew PL965 at 500 ft altitude and 330 kts on his photo run past the Vagar airport on a ground track just West of the runway, and his starboard oblique pictures turned out perfect! It was a brilliant sortie! So it is very cool to again be flying PL965 here, although in a much less dramatic fashion. Pre-flight done, ready to start the engine. It was nice to only have a short walk from the hotel to my Spitfire. The crosswind would dictate a takeoff from a perpendicular runway if there was one, but there is not. So I will be taking off from runway 31 as it aims me in the right direction anyway. Just after takeoff. Gear about to retract. Gear retracted and at 400 ft. More town below behind the cliff. Had no idea until I flew over. At 1,900 ft and about to enter the cloud base. After 30 minutes flying time. PL965 from another angle. Head on view. Underside view which shows the two vertical camera ports. A rare glimpse of the ocean below. Almost the whole flight there was a solid cloud layer below. Half way to Iceland. Another Half way angle. Feet Dry over Iceland, but there is no visible evidence of land below. Here is how it looks at this altitude. At Top of Descent. My original plan was to land on runway 01 approaching the airport from the South, but the wind had shifted en route so now I needed to approach from the NW and land on runway 13. Descending through 4,900 ft. Keeping the dive angle shallow with throttle at idle to not bust the 250 knot limit below 10,000 ft. Here is the weather map of the over Iceland portion of the flight. I kept descending in the mirk all the way down to 500 feet altitude without breaking out of the clouds/fog. I was flying over this portion of the map so the terrain did not look too bad. But since I still could not see ANYTHING, decided to stay at 500 ft altitude and turn South and fly straight for the coast to get over the water where I knew what the elevation was. Out over the ocean at 566 ft altitude. Flying West along the coastline. Still flying along the coast. At 2,400 ft altitude. Turning North to get over these small hills just east of BIKF. Back in the clear over the water at 1,500 ft. Runway 13 in sight ahead. Lined up for runway 13. Note the Grand Caravan ahead that just took off. Cockpit view of the runway. Over the numbers. Landed safely. Parked at Reykjavík in the rain. Now for a well earned rest. Next stop Narsarsuaq International Airport (BGBW) in Greenland.

And I was very fortunate to visit PL965 on the day after the original Mk 70 Merlin was reinstalled. Kit and I made plans to see PL965 together earlier that week, but then they called just before I left from the states to cancel. While I was in flight on the way Kit made arrangements with them for me to go one day later than originally planned. Unfortunately Kit had another commitment so he could not join me on the new day. I am really glad Kit finally got to see PL965 up close this year!

Really wish I could have been there with you!