Since July, Singapore Airlines has been bringing their A380s into LAX on their daily midday service to/from Singapore (via Tokyo). I rarely get to see the late-lunchtime arrival, although I regularly see and work the mid-afternoon departure. However, I swapped shifts with a coworker recently to facilitate some production work at the theater, with the side benefit that I can share this photo sequence:
This pair of photos would look a lot better if there wasn't a great big honking crane in the middle of the shot - Those construction guys have no consideration!
Sharp-eyed observers will have already noticed that we took Singapore all the way to the end of the runway, so that the A380 exited via Taxiway BB, as opposed to the more commonly- used Taxiway AA. Here's why:
Singapore's assigned gate (123A) was not yet available. As I've mentioned before, there aren't very many places we can put the A380 without causing some degree of inconvenience. On the north side of the airport, the preferred spot to hold an A380 is on Taxiway E, just west of Taxiway AA. Thus the A380 exits via Taxiway BB and makes the left turn onto Taxiway E, then holds short of Taxiway AA.
Here, an Air France B777 exits via Taxiway AA, and turns onto Taxiway Echo in front of the waiting A380
Speaking of construction, here you can see the nearly-finished Taxiway Delta extension. We are hoping to see this open up early next month.
Bonus shot, added a couple of weeks after original posting, showing a Singapore A380 on the newly-opened Taxiway Delta passing by one of Qantas' A380s (but now, Taxiway Echo is closed: Win some, lose some)
Before reading your blog, I often times found myself listening to LAX tower radio communication via websites on the internet. Now that I have found your blog, I figure I would ask a question that has long puzzled me. I searched through your blogs as much as I could for the answer but did not find it. What is the advantage of having airplanes depart from 25R at foxtrot, or 24L from Echo 8? My guess would be to save the time it would take the aircraft to taxi up the full length of the run way thus getting them off the ground quicker. Thanks for sharing your photographs and information. I find it all very insightful as aviation is a subject I love.
ReplyDeleteWow, that's a great question - Glad you asked! The answer deserves more space than it could get here in the comments section, so expect to see it covered in an upcoming post. Thanks!
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