Friday photo quiz

Here's another "special" photo for you guys to study over the weekend. Taken recently, it shows the north end of the TBIT in a relatively quiet moment. Yet, there's something special happening here. As usual, post your guesses in the comments and have a good weekend!

Just passing through

Photo fun

As promised, here are a few more interesting shots:

No story here, but it looks like they're about to have a tug-of-war

Now that most of the old American shed is gone, we can see what's stacked up on the American maintenance ramp.

I think this is the first time that we've had two A380s moving at once on the south side of the airport. With the weekend closure of runway 24 Left, the only available departure runway for the A380 is runway 25 Left, which is where Korean is headed. Air France, meanwhile, is destined for one of the remote gates at the west end, and thus has been given the south side for arrival because of taxiway closures associated with the runway 24 Left closure:

Photo puzzle revealed

Lots of sharp eyes out there! Most of you playing along at home called this one correctly: Runway 24 Left was closed this weekend, leaving the shorter 24 Right as the only runway on the north side.


Most of the heavies taxied around to the south side for departure off Runway 25 Right (which was made more challenging by the water main break that closed taxiway Sierra). This Japan Air was a surprising departure from the norm, as was this Qantas:


And this Hawaiian:


Stay tuned for more photo fun!

Photo puzzle of the day

Today's photo puzzle: What's unusual about this picture?

US Olympians return

Members of the US Olympic team arrived at LAX on a United flight from London yesterday afternoon and received a salute from the LAX Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting crews:


Special thanks to HF for helping make these shots possible!


The returning Olympians weren't the only VIPs in town; the First Lady was also here for an appearance on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. (link to Chrisian Science Monitor article)

Sunset . . . Moonrise

Yet more summer

We're halfway through summer, and there's still some unfinished business. Things always get busier for us during the summer, and here's some more of what's new:

Frontier has added flights to their new mini-hub in Colorado Springs.
They have also been flying charter flights to Cancun, Mexico.

During June, Casino Express was also operating charter flights to Cancun.

Allegiant, meanwhile, has been going to Zihuatanejo, Mexico.

American has added a flight to Washington Reagan National. This gives LAX two daily flights to National; previously we only had one flight a day, operated by Alaska.

We're seeing more Southwest B737-800s. Most of the ones I've seen were either going to Chicago Midway or Baltimore-Washington.

Meanwhile, the day Delta has been dreading has arrived: Southwest has also started flying to Atlanta.

Virgin America has added service to Philadelphia, as well as Portland, Oregon.

United has started service to Hilo, Hawaii. At this point, they're the only ones flying to Hilo, and that gives United the most Hawaiian destinations out of the carriers flying from LAX: Hilo, Honolulu, Kona, Lihue, and Maui. I have also seen United flying to Havana, Cuba; last time we saw someone going to Havana, it was Continental.

Cool shot of the day

An early morning shot of a Yangtze River B744 arriving on Runway 24 Left