Tag Archives: california

LAX is Attracting the Neos

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The A320neo (and more recently the A321neo) has been a big seller for Airbus.  However, introduction has not been smooth with both of the engine suppliers struggling to meet their commitments for powerplants (Pratt and Whitney definitely having the worse time of it).  Despite this, the neos are turning up in service in a lot of places but I had not seen a lot of them.  My trip to LAX changed that a bit.

Here I got to see a few operators with the neos in service.  The far larger fan diameter of the new generation engines makes the neos reasonably easy to spot and I like a big high bypass engine so I appreciate the change.  It won’t be too long before they are around in huge numbers and won’t be worthy of comment but, on this trip, I was pleased to see so many.

Antonov Hanging Around on the Ground

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I have shot a lot of AN124 Ruslan movements in recent years whether in the Bay Area or now we are in Seattle.  I am still happy to see them, of course, but something a little different is welcome.  When I arrived in LA, there was one parked up on the ramp near the museum.  I figured it would be gone by the time I was back for my helicopter flight but I was wrong.  It was still there.  Consequently, I was happy with a few new views on a familiar beast.

Most West Coast??

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The merger of the Virgin America operations into Alaska Airlines means combining the Airbus fleet with the Boeings.  Virgin America had ordered some A321neos and these are in the process of delivery just as things are being merged.  Alaska chose to change the livery on the next one off the line and adopted a scheme designed to reflect the number of flights they now operate on the west coast.  The Most West Coast jet has not been popular since it seems to lack branding of either airline.  It was at the gate when I landed in LA and I saw it taxiing out later that morning.  I wonder how long it will last in this form?

Wamos – A New Airline for Me

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There are many airlines around the world so plenty that you probably haven’t heard of and may never see.  Finding one in your backyard is a surprise though.  There I was hovering over LAX in a Robinson shooting pictures of the arriving and departing jets and a 747-400 appears on the approach.  Since they are becoming fewer and further between these days, this was a good thing.  When I saw the name on it, I had no idea what it was.

Wamos is apparently a Spanish airline.  They have been operating some flights to LA but, up until this point (and the subsequent research I did), I had never heard of them.  I guess we just never crossed paths.  A new airline and a 747 was a pretty sweet combination.  I was definitely on a roll on this flight as I got a number of treats.

Tahiti Nui Comes Up Trumps

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A favorite airline of mine is Air Tahiti Nui.  I have never flown with them but they have a colorful livery and they still fly Airbus A340-300s so they get points from me on two fronts.  The only place I ever get to see them is at LAX.  Normally they operate off the southern runway complex and I saw a couple on the ground while I was there on a recent trip.  While I was doing my flight over the airport to photograph operations, I knew the timing was right for one of their flights to come in.  However, things were pretty busy that day and we were reluctant to move over to the southside to get them arriving as we feared we might not get back into the center area to shoot arrivals on the northside again.

I was resigned to not getting them when my lucked took a very positive turn.  For some reason, and I don’t know what it was, the controllers brought them in to the north runways.  They came to me!  I didn’t have to do anything to reposition and I hadn’t even been aware at first that they were coming that side.  Needless to say, when they appeared on final, I was pretty stoked.  I imagine these jets will be replaced before too long so I was delighted to get these shots of them airborne.

BB-8 to Add to the ANA Star Wars Collection

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Back when we lived in California, I saw the Star Wars 787 from All Nippon come in to San Jose.  That is the topic of this blog post.  There are a couple of other Star Wars planes that ANA painted up.  One is a 767 and it tends to fly around Asia so I doubt I will get a chance to see it any time soon.  The other was a 777-330ER painted up like BB-8.  I few of my friends have seen it come in to Chicago but I had not seen it up close.  They didn’t operate in to where I was.  (I had shot it overflying me at high altitude once though.)

Then I caught a break.  I didn’t realize this at the time but it was operating to Los Angeles the day I was shooting over the airport.  I knew an ANA 777 was on its way in but I had not paid too much attention to which aircraft it was.  As I was hanging over the airport, I picked the jet out of the murky skies as it came down the approach and, as it got closer, I realized which jet it was.  I have to admit, I was rather surprised and a bit excited when I saw it.

What Are These Stretches of Concrete

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I had a lot of time to look around while I was at Rainbow Canyon.  As the day wore on and the sun came around, I started to have a clearer view to the south.  In the morning, it had been quite foggy in that direction but that was burning off and I could see the above view.  It looked a bit like there was a runway out there but it was so far away, I couldn’t be sure.  When I got home, I looked on Google Maps.  Sure enough, there are some long stretches of what looks like concrete but no indication of what there are.  Do any of you know?  The place is called Millspaugh if you want to look it up.

Rainbow Canyon Earns its Name in the Afternoon Light

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Many of the aviation people reading this will immediately know what Rainbow Canyon is.  For the rest of you, it is a canyon in Death Valley.  It is part of a low flying route used for military training and it is a popular spot for photographers to get shots of low flying jets either at eye level or below you in the canyon.  Today it is not going to be pictures of the jets though.  The canyon earned its name because there are many layers of rock in the walls that are of different colors.

I was there in winter so the sun angles never got too high.  This avoided washing out the colors of the rocks quite effectively.  Even so, as the day wore on, the angle of the sun certainly improved from the point of view of getting the color out of the rocks.  There was plenty of time with nothing flying so I was able to enjoy the views around the canyon a lot.

One thing that you struggle to appreciate at a place like this is the scale.  I read about the Spanish first arriving at the Grand Canyon and totally failing to appreciate the scale because there was nothing to give them a reference.  Rainbow Canyon, while a lot smaller than the Grand Canyon (obviously), still is deceptive.  The distance across felt very small until a jet flew through and you realized how far away it still was and it was not even close to the other side.  A quick look on Google Maps with the scale showing makes you realize it is actually a long way across.

Finally, We Get What We Came For

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As my day at the canyon continued (you can read about the beginnings here), I got a bit more luck.  The Navy came to the rescue with some Hornets and Super Hornets making their way through the canyon.  One came in at an odd angle and then pulled out of the canyon over the overlook location.  This was fine for me but probably annoyed those further down the canyon.

Then we got something a lot more like what we had anticipated.  Jets came in along the angle from the highway starting out a lot lower than those that had come across the ridge.  They could drop in a lot more quickly and be deeper into the canyon as they came by.  This was what it was all about.  They provided a last minute contribution to what I had come for and I was very grateful.  A few more would have been good but it was okay.

Once disappointing aspect of this was that, with so few jets coming through, I shot all of them.  I didn’t have the opportunity to waste so I never got to keep the camera down and just appreciate the jets transitioning through below me for what it was.  On my next trip I will hopefully get to do that as well as get some shots.

The Start of a New Stadium

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NFL fans in a couple of cities are still mourning the loss of their teams to Los Angeles.  With the Rams and the Chargers both now based in LA, a new stadium is being built to accommodate them.  Meanwhile, they are playing in existing stadiums.  The new stadium, when it is finished, will be one of the most extravagant designs and will be used for other tasks including the future Olympics.  Right now, construction work is underway.  I saw the work site from my plane as I came in to LAX but didn’t have the camera to hand.  However, when flying above LAX in the helicopter, I was able to get some shots at a bit of a distance of the work in progress.