The Super Returns

After a two-month hiatus, Qantas has brought the Airbus 380 back to LAX: Flight 93 from Melbourne arrived on runway 24 right about 7:30 this morning. I know some of you were hoping for a runway 25 arrival so that you might see it on the Cargo City webcam. Sorry to disappoint, but the arrival runway for the A380 is determined by where the aircraft is going to park on the airport. This is because there are only certain runways and taxiways that can accommodate the behemoth, and it also requires several vehicle escorts anytime it's on the move. Said escorts have to be in position prior to the airplane arriving, and so the whole process is planned out about an hour before the target even shows up on our radar. The preferred gate for the A380 is 123, at the north end of the International Terminal. This is because it's the easiest operation for all concerned: more direct taxi route, fewer vehicle access roads that have to be blocked, and that's the closest gate to the ramp where the airplane will subsequently be towed to spend the day. Gate 101, at the south end of the TBIT, is the second-choice gate, and is usually only used if we have two A380s on the ground at the same time. Since Qantas is reintroducing the A380 on the LAX flights only on a limited basis, I don't expect we'll have to worry about that for a while.

Sorry about that shadow in the middle of the shot - it's the control tower!

And now for something completely different:

This is the first Chevrolet Volt that I've seen outside of an auto show, seen today while parked at the electric vehicle charging station at Terminal One - and yes, there are already two chargers that a Volt can plug into installed here. LAX is a great place to see electric cars; behind the Volt is an electric Toyota RAV4. We also see a number of MINI-Es and Teslas: