Flying Over Lake Mead at Sunset, Las Vegas to St. George | Cessna 172 Coast to Coast, Leg 7

A late-afternoon flight in a Cessna 172 from Las Vegas to St. George, Utah. Out of Harry Reid International, east past Henderson to a steep left turn near Hoover Dam, then north up Lake Mead past Boulder Basin to Echo Bay as the sun drops. Another bank, into the red rock of the Valley of Fire at sunset, past the green fields of the Moapa Valley, and on into the dusk toward the Virgin Mountains, landing at St. George after dark. No talking, no music: just the engine, the radio and the view. Leg 7 of a slow, zig-zag trip across the United States. ✈ Route: KLAS Harry Reid International → Hoover Dam → Lake Mead → Echo Bay → Valley of Fire → Virgin River → KSGU St. George · wheels up to touchdown 1:09 ✈ Aircraft: Cessna 172SP, steam gauges, GNS 530 / 430, S-TEC 55 autopilot flying the GPS route ✈ Flown in X-Plane 12 and recorded in real time. Nothing sped up. Chapters 00:00 Takeoff roll at Harry Reid International 00:32 Wheels up 01:00 Climbing out over Las Vegas 09:00 First look at Lake Mead 12:00 Banking left over Lake Mead near Hoover Dam 15:40 Banking right over the water 27:00 Banking left at Echo Bay 28:00 Sunset out the left window 30:45 Banking right into the sun 34:10 Banking right over the Valley of Fire 35:00 Valley of Fire at sunset 37:30 Moapa Valley farms 45:00 Dusk over the desert 60:00 Nightfall on the way into Utah 68:50 Final approach to St. George 69:12 Landing at St. George 69:40 Taxi to the terminal ▶ The whole trip, in order:    • Coast to Coast in a Small Plane, in order   ◀ Previous leg: the Las Vegas Strip at night    • Flying Over the Las Vegas Strip at Night, ...   ▶ Next leg: Zion and Bryce Canyon, St. George to Bryce    • Flying Over Zion and Bryce Canyon in Fall,...   🛠 The setup (for sim hobbyists) Sim: X-Plane 12.4.3 on a Mac Studio (M4 Max, 64 GB) Aircraft: Laminar Cessna 172SP with the X-Aerodynamics C-172 Enhanced Flight Model v2.2 Controls: Honeycomb Alpha yoke, Sierra TPM throttle quadrant, Charlie rudder pedals Scenery: simHeaven X-World Pro America (buildings, roads and forests from OpenStreetMap), X-Plane Landmarks: Las Vegas Ground tiles: X-Plane 12 default terrain ATC: X-Plane 12 built-in Recording: OBS Studio, ProRes at 30 fps, upscaled to 4K, sim audio only #flightsimulator #cessna172 #lakemead