Earthquake!

Southern California made the news earlier this month when we experienced a series of earthquakes. The epicenter was near Death Valley - about halfway between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Even so, we felt several of them here at LAX. The most notable casualty was our ground control radar, which has an antenna that spins about 60 RPM atop a 100-foot tall tower. That much momentum at the top of a tower can cause some damage, so it shut down when a couple of the strongest quakes were felt. The techs had to climb the tower and inspect it, but we had it back a few hours later. We also got some special seismic equipment installed:

Here are your random airplane pictures of the week:

The original Salmon-Thirty-Seven was a B737-400; it's been replaced by this -900

Birds of a feather: A pair of Virgin Atlantics on the move. In the foreground, a B787-9 taxis out for departure to London. Beyond, an A330-200 arrives from Manchester. The Manchester flight is a recent addition at LAX.