A little trip back to an earlier photo trip for this one. Aeromexico have lots of flights to the US but their LAX flight is obviously busy enough to justify a bigger jet. That is the 787. I got to see their 787 during my visit including some great views from the helicopter that we shot from over the airport. Above is a good angle to shoot the 787 from. The wing planform is pretty distinctive and so looking down you can see that most clearly.
On the south side of Los Angeles International Airport is the Flightpath Museum. Charting the history of the airport, it has many artifacts that show how the airport and the airlines that serve it have developed. It also has a terrace area. You can’t be out there without someone being aware of you and what you are doing because you have access to a live ramp area but you can get some good views of the operations in the southern runway complex. Whether it is the arriving aircraft or those taking off, it is a great spot to be to watch what is going on.
There is plenty to see. Off to one side is the freight ramp. You can see some of the freighters loading and unloading before they continue on their way. The arriving jets land a bit away from you but you have a good view of them as they roll out. The departing jets get airborne very close to or a little before you. This provides a different perspective on the aircraft to that you can normally achieve. No fencing in the way. Not too much distance. It is definitely something to check out if you are visiting LAX.
I saw this Cathay Pacific 747-8F making an approach to the opposite side of the airport at LAX while I was waiting for a friend’s flight to arrive. The freighters tend to use the southerly runways since that is where the freight area is located and it cuts down on taxi requirements. Therefore, I wasn’t surprised that it went that way. Later in the day I was up on Imperial Hill when it made its departure. I was actually having something to eat and not really paying attention. It had rotated before I even realized so grabbed the camera quickly to get some shots. I’m glad the camera was close by or I would have been really annoyed.
You don’t see a lot of go-arounds at major airports but they do happen. I was down at LAX awaiting the arrival of a friend when a Cathay Pacific 777 came on to the approach. As I looked back at it, the approach did not appear to be too stable. It seemed to start off a little high, then it got back on glide path but it adopted a rather nose high attitude. At this point I thought something seemed amiss but it then resumed a more normal approach angle and I figured they had got it under control. It was at this time that they powered up and climbed away.
They were tucking up the gear as they came across the top of me. They flew the missed approach procedure and then came around for a second go which went fine this time. I don’t know what the issue was but I did talk to some other pilots that had flown the approach that day and they mentioned that construction work was underway that had meant some of the approach aids were out of service. Maybe this was a factor. Since airlines have strict procedures about going around if they are not stabilized by a certain point, maybe they were just too late getting it back and stable and had to follow the procedure.
I learned something significant while shooting the airliners from above LAX. It is a lot harder to see an airliner from above than I thought. In the many years of flying, I am familiar with the importance of maintaining a good lookout and the difficulty of spotting other aircraft around you in the sky. From our locations over the airport, we were generally picking out the aircraft from a background of the city, not the sky. I had figured that we knew the approach paths and what was due in so we would not have trouble seeing the planes as they came in.
I was very wrong. First, they are not easy to find at all. Three sets of eyes were looking but we would find things at odd times, sometimes when they were very close. Also, with parallel operations to the 24 and 25 complexes, you can get distracted by activity on one side and miss out on something the other side. The result of this was that we did not see some of the jets until they were on the ground. Pete, who was with me, flies 777s so we were keen to get the BA jet when it came in. We knew the arrival time and still managed to miss it until it was on the ground. An Air France A380 also sneaked in past our “diligent” scan. An Aeroflot A330 was also successful in coming in untouched.
All of these were a little frustrating but not terrible. However, it did give me pause for thought about how I would plan the flight the next time in order to keep track of the things that I most wanted to get. This flight was my first time trying this so I was happy to have got so many shots that I like. The missed ones are not the end of the world. I did learn a lot though and will make sure I use that knowledge next time.
The scheduling of flights from Australia and New Zealand to the west coast of the US is not ideal for getting maximum utilization from your aircraft. There is a long time between the arrivals and the most desirable time for departing on the return journey. Consequently, there are a lot of jets that spend a good portion of the day sitting at LAX. Rather than waste valuable gate space, these jets are disembarked and then towed to remote stands to await the time when the evening flights will be readied.
There is a large parking area to the west end of LAX where these jets are kept. You will see Qantas, Virgin Australia and Air New Zealand aircraft all parked up here in the middle of the day. We were able to make a short detour from our normal operating area to the west end of the airport when ATC was able which meant we could get a good view of the jets parked up here. One of the Qantas jets was carrying special markings for the Wallabies rugby team. Later in the day they will have started the return trek across the Pacific.
I have put together a number of posts about specific aspects of our flight over LAX. However, there were lots more aircraft that we shot on the flight. It is just that they didn’t seem to warrant their own post. Instead, here is a selection of additional shots taken on the flight.
Airliners were not the only thing we got to see above LAX. On the south side of the field are some FBOs and they had an interesting selection of planes parked up on their ramps. As we passed overhead, it was a good time to see what was around. There were plenty of Gulfstreams on show. The view from above shows just how large the wing is on the largest of Savannah’s products. We also had some BBJs, a 757 that appeared to belong to a casino and some Cessnas, Challengers, Falcons and Hawkers. I am not sure I would be able to choose which one to use today. Maybe I will rotate them?
The freight ramps on the south side of LAX are a good place for some older jets. FedEx has a substantial fleet of aircraft and they are currently in the process of replacing many of the older jets with new (or newer) types with reduced operating costs. The fleet of Airbus A300 and A310 aircraft are gradually reducing. There was a nice looking A310-200 parked up on the ramp as we flew over. I haven’t seen too many of them recently so this was a nice surprise. A great view to get of it too.
Shooting with a long focal length lens has the effect of compressing the image to make elements appear a lot closer together than they really are. When shooting from the helicopter over LAX I was using a 100-400mm lens. The aircraft themselves were quite low to the ground, particularly those on short final to land. They weren’t a long way off the ground but the lens in use had the effect of making things look a lot closer than they really were. Some of the shots I got of the aircraft over parking lots or near the In’n’Out really make it look as if the jets were barely airborne. I like the extra drama this adds to the shots.
