Some of us got to take a ride with the LAPD last week. The morning weather wasn't the greatest, but it got better as the day wore on. Our chariot was a Eurocopter AS350 A-Star that picked us up on the ramp at Atlantic Aviation and ferried us to the LAPD downtown heliport.
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| Our ride awaits |
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| They
have a nice moving map display with a little helicopter icon to mark
their location. That said, what's wrong with this picture? |
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| I have no idea why this American is parked on the cargo ramp |
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| The southeast corner of LAX: A2 and ICC |
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| Terminals 6 & 7 |
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| Delta and United maintenance ramps |
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| Mid-field crossing ~ 1000'. These are the 25s, looking to the east |
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| Wonderful airborne visibility: The ATIS was reporting 4 miles |
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| See if you can find the airplane in this shot! |
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| Destination: LAPD's downtown heliport |
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Instrument
panel of an LAPD helicopter on display. The moving map display on the
left has been switched to show the camera in the hose. There's a guy
standing right in front of the helicopter - nice knees!
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LA County Fire Department
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| LA County Sheriff Department |
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| This is a brand new Robinson R66, flown by the Fontana PD. Robinson helicopters are built in a factory in Torrance, California; less than ten miles south of LAX. Fontana is about fifty miles east of LAX |
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| MD 500E flown by Pomona PD. Pomona is about thirty miles east of LAX |
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| This is one of four US Coast Guard helicopters based out of LAX; I worked it out on a rescue mission later that same day |
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| Time to go! |
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| This shot was taken an hour or so after the earlier shot of the train station. Notice the much-improved visibility |
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| The visibility may be better, but where's the airport? |
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| Follow that plane! |
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| There's an airport around here somewhere . . . |
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| Not THAT airport! |
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| Another view of the southeast corner of the airfield. In the foreground is the 105-405 interchange |
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| That's the same Southwest that appeared in the air-to-air shot above; you can't outrun the LAPD! |
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| Parting shot. Thanks guys! |
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| We landed on the Atlantic Aviation ramp next to a Delta Airbus that was awaiting its outbound charter passengers |
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| The early-morning visibility was yucky, but the payoff came that evening: Gratuitous sunset photo! |
Great photo series! I remember the LAPD heliport was also used for the movie "Blue Thunder" Was this some sort of Open House for the public with all the visiting helicopters from other PDs?
ReplyDeleteLA smog is something I don't miss at all! I used to live near the 10-710 interchange. A friend visited a couple times while I lived there. First visit the smog was thick giving that ghostly gray cast that you have captured so well in your photos. Next visit the visibility was much better...one of the things friend asked was "When did those [San Gabriel] mountains get put in?" LOL
J
Eugene, Oregon
Old maps.
ReplyDelete1. South runway, No center taxiway.
2. Was: Hughes Space and Comm, Is: Boeing Space and Comm
Nice series. The map has not been updated to show taxiway H.
ReplyDelete