What happened? Part 1 - The players

By now, most of you have most likely heard about the runway incursion we had at LAX this past Sunday. While I was there and witnessed the event, I was not working position at the time and had no contact with any of the aircraft involved; nor am I involved in the investigation. The only information I have is what has been reported publicly - no 'inside scoop' will be found here. My only purpose here is to explain the situation for those who aren't familiar with the layout at LAX.

We'll start with the players:

An arriving Midwest Express E190 operated by Republic (callsign: Brickyard). The E190 has a nominal seating capacity of 100, and is a stretched version of the E170, which seats about 25 less; Republic operates both. Besides Republic, we also see E190's in Air Canada colors at LAX. Republic has recently taken over all of the LAX flights for Midwest, and has increased Midwest's operations here from one flight a day to at least three daily, serving Kansas City and Milwaukee from LAX's Terminal 4.

The departing aircraft was a Northwest Airlines B757-300, bound for Honolulu. The B753 is the longer of the B757 models, and is some 23 feet (7 meters) longer than the original -200. Northwest has some of both, as seen in the second photo; seating capacity is approximately 200 for the -200, with an additional 40 or so in the -300. Delta didn't buy any on its own, but has them now that it has taken over Northwest; as of this writing I believe Delta is the world's largest operator of B757's. The last shot shows LAX's other operator of the B753: Continental. In the past, ATA also brought them into LAX. At the very top of the last photo, highlighted by top of Continental's tail, is the intersection involved - more about which in the next segment.