Who's That? Part 15 - Planes for a Cause - Revealed

Southwest Airlines is a supporter of Kidd's Kids, a Texas-based organization that provides vacation adventures to medically-challenged children and their families. In recent years, this has been an all-expense-paid trip to Disney World in Florida. The group was started in 1991 by Dallas radio personality Kidd Kraddick after he used his radio show to raise money to replace a little girl's stolen wheelchair.

Kid's Horizons is an Air Canada program that provides transportation to children who need medical care that is not available in their community. The program is supported in part by donations of frequent flier miles.

American Airlines is a corporate sponsor of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, one of the world's largest breast cancer research organizations. This B777 is one of several aircraft that American has decorated with pink ribbons.

Delta Airlines has been a supporter of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation since 2005. Each October, in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Delta offers pink lemonade on their flights, with proceeds going to the BCRF.

Alaska Airlines has been a supporter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation for over two decades. Make-a-Wish grants wishes to children with life-threatening medical conditions. This B734 features the genie from the Disney movie Aladdin, and is called the "Spirit of Make-a-Wish".

American Eagle has also been a supporter of Make-A-Wish; this specially-painted ERJ was dedicated in 2001, and features artwork by four Make-A-Wish kids. I haven't seen this one in some time, and it may have been repainted. Here's a better picture by someone else.

Delta Airlines is also a supporter of Habitat for Humanity. Former president Jimmy Carter has brought Habitat to the awareness of people world wide. Habitat works to reduce homelessness by providing homes in partnership with the families who will live in them.

In support of all who serve: This American B752 "Flagship Freedom" was dedicated last year on Veterans Day in honor of those who serve in the armed services. American Eagle also has a yellow-ribbon aircraft (an ATR), but it doesn't operate out of LAX.

Who's That? Part 15 - Planes for a Cause - Revised

This time around, I'm showing you planes marked in support of various causes or charities. A couple will be no mystery at all, but the others may be a bit of a challenge. Be aware that this entry almost certainly will be amended prior to publication of the answers, as I'm pretty sure I have another one or two in the archives somewhere. If and when it happens, revisions will be noted in the title. Enjoy!

As noted in the title, I've added some more, including one I hadn't remembered when I started. Good luck!

Happy Anniversary Bonus

After posting the answers to Part 14, it occurred to me that there was another anniversary plane I could show you:

Silver One marks Southwest Airlines' 25th anniversary. This B733 has had several iterations; the original was a polished fuselage, as seen in this shot. Later, the fuselage was painted silver. The photo above was taken about a year ago, and shows the transition to the canyon blue livery on the tail. It has since had winglets added, as seen in this shot. As noted by the last shot's photographer, the silver livery will be replaced by the standard blue this fall.

Once I started perusing the multitude of photos on Airliners.net, I realized that I could after all show you another anniversary livery that I've seen but didn't catch with the camera: The Spirit of Delta. The only time I saw this airplane was at night, and looking out the window I couldn't figure out who it was. Since then, Delta has phased out their B767-200's, so there won't be another chance to photograph it. Here's another view.

One more anniversary paint scheme that I've seen, and this one only once so far, and that again was at night: Continental 75th

As I think I mentioned earlier, there will be at least one or two more editions in the Who's That? series, maybe even three. I'll give you the next edition's title as a hint: Tails for a Cause. Stay tuned!

Who's That? Part 14 - Anniversaries revealed

Commemorative paint schemes are usually pretty sharp; these anniversary liveries occasionally liven up what can otherwise be a monotonous parade of airplanes that all look the same. Enjoy!

In 2002, SkyWest Airlines observed its 30th anniversary with this specially painted CRJ2. SkyWest was the first US airline to operate the CRJ, in 1994. They now have some 140 of them, flying for Delta, Midwest, and United. Here at LAX, SkyWest flies as United Express, as seen here, as well as Delta Connection, as seen below.

This CRJ9 is painted for SkyWest's 35th anniversary. That same year (2007) marked 30 years of SkyWest service at LAX. With 140 departures a day (United Express and Delta Connection combined), I believe SkyWest has more flights at LAX than any other carrier. Southwest is probably next, with 119 departures per day.

Trans-Canada Air Lines was started in 1937, and became Canada's flag air carrier. Canada being a bilingual country, the airline was known as "TCA" in English, and "Air Canada" in French. An act of Parliament changed the company's name to Air Canada in 1965. This anniversary livery appears on an A319.

'The Party Plane' flies for Horizon Air, whose 25th anniversary was in 2006. Horizon has over three dozen of these Dash 8's, which are also known as Q400's.

This one was cheating a little, as it's not an airline anniversary, but instead Disneyland's 50th anniversary being commemorated. Known as 'Magic of Disneyland', this Alaska Airlines B737-400 is hard to photograph.

'Starliner 75' is Alaska's 75th anniversary aircraft, and features their original paint scheme. This is a B737-800.

Like SkyWest, Air Canada has more than one anniversary paint scheme flying around. This A320 is painted for their 65th anniversary, in 2002. Seems like there should be a 70th by now, but if so I haven't seen it yet. Come to think of it, I haven't seen this one lately.

Who's That? Part 14 - Happy Anniversary!

This week's edition is a short one, since I've discovered that I've got enough to stretch this out for a while longer if I resist the temptation to give you a huge collection all at once. As the title suggests, the theme is anniversaries. Sadly, I know of at least two more anniversary schemes that I've seen here but have been unable to catch with the camera. One will hopefully return for another photo op, but the other is now history.

Stay tuned!

Sorry guys, I know it's been over a week since I promised you another edition of "Who's That?" Stay tuned - it's still in the works, and is probably going to end up being another two-parter. As you may have heard, southern California has been keeping our firefighters busy lately, and while I (thankfully) have not been directly affected (except for the smoke-induced allergies), it has been a big distraction. Smoke from a number of the fires has been visible from the tower, and for several days last week, flames of the Station fire, the largest fire in the LA area, were visible from the tower at night:


Meanwhile, there have been assorted other personal issues - the Rover failed its smog test, they're about to repave most of the airport where the Baron lives, and oh yeah - I'm trying to buy a house. Minor details . . .

That'll have to do for now - I've got the midshift this week, and thanks to all the supervisors going to a big meeting in the morning, yours truly is in charge of the tower tonight!