Returning to spawn in vehicle

[Guano]

I've been told, and read, that you can return to a spawn point to get a successful completion of a sortie, but it does not seem to work that way.  I spawned east, positioned myself above an enme base, shot down 2 planes, and drove all the way back to the spawn point and made sure I was at the point by zooming in on the map. Drove all over the arrowhead and the end mission never turned green when I stopped.  Gave up and ended sortie at was awarded with a Ditched message.  What's trick?

[The Fugitive]

You have to be closer to a Friendly base than an enemy base to get the green end sortie. There also might be a situation where you can safely land at a spawn point, being that there are no enemy around you, but I have never tested it.

[Guano]

But in my last situation there was no way I could get closer to a friendly base because I spawned over water and there was no way to get closer to a friendly base.  That does not seem right.  Seems to me that if uyou get back to the spawn point you should be able to land.

[TyFoo]

The spawn point does not have anything to do with successfully landing.

What matters is your distance from the nearest enemy. If you are in enemy territory and wish to land successfully without giving away a proxy or a kill then you need to be better than 5k+ away from the nearest enemy.

You will know this happens when you look at your "End Sortie" and it is Green. As an FYI, even if you do not see an enemy plane, Enemy Dar, or a GV Dar, doesn't mean that somebody isn't within 5k of you. There could be somebody in a manned gun, low level etc. and nothing will show on the map except that you will have a Red "End Sortie". The "End Sortie" light is what counts.

If within your territory the "End Sortie" will either be Green or Yellow. If there are enemy within your territory and closer than 5K then you will see a Yellow "End Sortie" which will allow for a successful ditch provided you were not hit and damaged. You must return to your base and get on Concrete, Pavement, or bitumen to successfully land otherwise.

[Guano]

Thanks for the clear explanation.