Photo Friday: New Qantas Dreamliner

Qantas has been replacing their B747s at LAX with new B787-9 Dreamliners. Just last month we saw the last Qantas B747 flight between LAX and JFK; that route is now covered with the Dreamliner. There will still be Qantas B747s at LAX for a couple more months, but they are expected to disappear from the LAX scene by the end of this year.

This new Dreamliner has been on the LAX-JFK route several times recently. It's named Emily Kame Kngwarreye, in honor of the artist.

Links:

Qantas unveils special Boeing 787 Dreamliner livery

Qantas switches New York flights from 747 to Dreamliner

Qantas retires legendary Boeing 747 from iconic New York to Los Angeles route

Qantas retires another 747 to California desert

Photo Friday: Qantas Boeings

This weeks' edition of Photo Friday features a pair of Qantas Boeings. A B787-9, freshly-arrived from Melbourne, waits as a B747-400 departs from Runway 24 Left enroute to New York JFK.

Bonus shot: The next Runway 24 Right arrival was this Delta B767-300:

And now, for more sport

I've been wanting to catch the Qantas World Cup B747 for some time now, so even though it was really hazy last week, I grabbed this photo from the catwalk. I believe the Virgin America Airbus in the lower shot is the same one that sported a mustache last season:

And now, for sport

Wow -- two posts in one weekend. Clearly somebody needs a social life. Meanwhile, there was recently in Brazil a little get-together about some ball games. Excuse me, matches. While I didn't follow the World Cup closely, I did hear about it hear and there. A couple of B747s might have clued me in.

A little closer to home, San Francisco has a baseball team:

More construction photos

Last time, I showed you construction at the TBIT. But that's not all that was happening this past weekend. We had a runway (24R/06L) closed for the entire weekend. This presented some photo opportunities for arrivals on 24L. For each of the ones I got, I missed at least one more, but then the American tax payer isn't paying me to take pictures; I am expected to do some actual work occasionally! And, as usual, there's something sneaky about one of these pictures. Guesses are welcome!

Nippon Cargo has this one plane with a green nose; I haven't noticed it in quite some time, but recently it's been through several times

I was hoping this was going to be the yellow-tailed Polar

Even when it was sunny, the June gloom wasn't far away

Submitted as proof that I am able to take a picture of something that isn't a heavy jet!

Arrivals and Departures

It's been a busy week at LAX tower, my home away from home. Besides the first real rain of the season, and the transition off of Daylight Savings Time, we've had several notable comings and goings:


As mentioned in an earlier post, Qantas began scheduled service here with the first of their A380's. So far we get one flight a week each from/to Sidney and Melbourne. The new is starting to wear off now, and the day-to-day reality is that this thing is a royal pain. By sheer luck of the draw, I have yet to actually work the Super, as we have to call it (mere B747's and such are 'heavies'), but I have gotten to observe as various of my coworkers have worked it. 'Worked around it' is closer to the truth - there are a number of airport restrictions that apply to and/or because of the A380 that I'll enumerate some other time.


Emirates began their service to Dubai, UAE, this week, using B777-200's. I think we're getting three flights a week. This has doubled our offerings to the Middle East; previously all we had was El Al's flight to Tel Aviv, Israel, also using B777-200's. So far, whether by plan or chance I can't say, they aren't both here at the same time.



Midwest has started using a regional carrier partner for its LA to Kansas City route - currently the only service they have out of LA. The Midwest 106-seat B-717 (nee MD-95) has been replaced with the 70-seat E-170, operated by Republic Airlines (based in Indianapolis, their callsign is "Brickyard"). During the summer Midwest also went from here to Milwaukee with MD-88's; that went away along with many other flights from many other carriers right after Labor Day. The E-170 is the smallest of Embraer's "E-jet" family; there's also the 100-seat E-190, which we see at LAX in Air Canada colors:

A pair of Air Canada E-190's; the Northwest is an Airbus A319, seating capacity 124.

Aer Lingus, whom we know as 'Shamrock', flew its final flight out of LA yesterday. There was to be a ceremonial send-off water spray from the fire trucks, but as it was already raining, I think they called it off. I've been told that they have plans to resume their LA to Dublin service in the spring. However until then, we've no direct service to Ireland.


The rumor was true - American Eagle flew one of their SF-340's out this afternoon, destination the boneyard in Kingman, Arizona. Hopefully there'll be more. No word yet on if they're being replaced with something else. I heard that DFW's Eagle Flight Saabs were replaced with ATR's, which would be nice - those are much more compatible with the rest of our traffic mix. They're also a good deal bigger than the Saabs though, so unless they're adding capacity (not the prevailing trend in the industry right now) it's not likely.


Notes:

Today (November 2nd) is the anniversary of the first (and only) flight of Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose in Long Beach harbor.

The Republic Airlines mentioned above flying for Midwest is not the Republic of old, which became part of Northwest Airlines in 1986. This Republic Airlines operates or has operated regional flights for flag carriers, including Delta, Continental, US Air, American, Frontier, and United.

Qantas A380 arrives

After years of anticipation, yesterday saw the arrival of the first Airbus A380 in regular scheduled service at LAX. Qantas flight 93 from Melbourne arrived a little before 7:30 in the morning. After unloading and servicing the aircraft, it was towed over to the Imperial Terminal on the south side of the field for some festivities. Also on hand for the show was John Travolta's B707, which is painted in the scheme of Qantas' first jetliner. As I had had the mid-shift that morning, I didn't stick around for all of the show-and-tell stuff. It was a gray and overcast morning, not ideal for pictures, but here are a few:

Gate 101 at the International Terminal is one of two at that terminal that have been reconfigured to accommodate the A380. Here, the tug is being hooked up for the final 100 feet or so to the gate. This is procedure is not limited to the big Airbus; most other heavies also get towed onto this gate, as they do for most other gates at LAX. There are, so far, four gates at LAX set up for the big Airbus: the two at the Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT), and another two out at the west remote gates. The remote gates are gates in name only - they're really nothing more than hardstands with jetways that lead down to bus stops. Passengers get bussed to and from the TBIT. The long-term plan is to add more gates to the west side of the TBIT. There's also talk that Virgin Atlantic wants to bring their A380's to terminal two or three.

John Travolta's B707. As you can tell from the lighting, I actually took this shot the evening before, while the airplane was still on Atlantic Aviation's ramp. Later, it was towed over to the Imperial Terminal ramp for the inaugural festivities.

In this shot, the A380 is now in position at gate 101, and unloading has begun. For a sense of scale, look at the ground crew and vehicles. That's a B767 in the alley.

The International Terminal, with Terminal Four in the foreground. The A380 is on the corner (gate 101); the other Qantas jet at gate 104 is a B747, which arrived a few minutes before the Airbus. You can just see the top of the tail of another Qantas B747 parked at gate 41. That American tail sticking up next to it is the B767 in the previous photo. On the opposite side is an MD80 at gate 40, and a B757 at gate 42A.

Another comparison shot, actually taken while the A380 was still being pulled onto the gate, shows an MD80 waiting to leave the alley. That tail on the far left is a B767.

Recent Happenings

I apologize for the dearth of recent entries; traffic's been slow and we're having a resurgence of summer temperatures; the two combined have pretty much sapped my inspiration.

There has been a bit of recent aviation news. The first item comes from Allentown, PA, where a Mesa airlines CRJ700, operating for United, narrowly missed a Cessna that had just landed but missed its assigned exit. The controller apparently didn't hear the Cessna pilot say that he had missed his exit and was going to take the next one, and cleared the RJ for takeoff. After starting their departure roll, the RJ pilots saw the Cessna and aborted - from 120 knots. Reports are that the aircraft missed each other by about ten feet. There were no injuries reported, but the Mesa flight was cancelled. NATCA, the controllers' union, claims that the two controllers on duty were both trainees, with no 'adult' supervision. While this sounds unlikely to me, I'll concede the possibility. The timing was great for NATCA though, as the House Aviation Subcommittee was scheduled to meet two days later - to discuss runway safety. NATCA has maintained for some time now that the nation has been facing a growing controller shortage, and (naturally) lays the blame on FAA managements' ineptitude.

We don't have Mesa flying for United here at LAX, although they do operate here for USAir. Instead, the United RJ's at LAX are operated by Skywest, and here are a few photos:

We rarely have Cessnas at LAX, so to give you some idea of the size difference, here's a shot of one at a local general aviation airport.

The congress has passed a bill last week that allows the FAA to continue to operate in the absence of an actual budget. Thanks to the very muddled budget process for the last couple of years, the FAA has actually been operating under various continuing resolutions that allow the agency to keep going under the assumption that funding will be unchanged from what was last approved. This process has been rather frustrating for NATCA, who has been trying to get congress to force a change in the FAA's current way of dealing with controllers (just a quick recap: the nation's air traffic controllers have been working without a contract under imposed work rules since summer of 2006). The preferred way to make this happen is to attach an amendment to the FAA budget or some other 'must pass' legislation. The continuing resolutions have so far made this an ineffectual strategy. Meanwhile, AOPA, the aircraft owners and pilots association, has declared the current funding bill as a temporary victory in their on-going fight against user fees.

Three airlines operating at LAX are each receiving $600,000 grants to install safety equipment that will provide pilots with their location on the airport and alert them when they're about to enter or cross a runway. Southwest, Skywest, and US Airways will each install the equipment in 20 aircraft by next May as part of a study on the system's effectiveness. An FAA study indicated that over 40% of nation-wide pilot-error runway incursions between 2004 and 2008 could have been prevented by this equipment.

A pair of SWA B737's. The blue one is a 737-500, while the brown one is a -700.
The irony here is that the new paint scheme is on the old airplane.

A Southwest 737-300 departs runway 24 left in the background, and a Westjet 737-700 taxis in the foreground. Sandwiched in between is a US Air A321 - easily mistaken for a B757.

A US Air comparison shot: a B737 in the foreground and an Airbus A320 in the background. New controllers often have a hard time distinguishing the A320-series aircraft from the B737's. This photo is one I use to help my trainees learn to recognize some of the differences. In particular, look at the shapes of the tail cones and the noses. Winglets are another clue: the Airbuses all have vestigial winglets, while the Boeings either have none at all or great big ones;
look at the winglets on the Westjet and brown Southwest above.

Lots of Southwests and US Airs: LAX Terminal One, as seen from the tower.

A pair of Skywests: A CRJ-200 in the new United colors takes the runway. while an E-120 Brasilia in Skywest's own markings waits its turn.

Scheduled A380 flights at LAX will begin next month when Qantas initiates A380 service from the Tom Bradley International Terminal on October 20th. We're also supposed to get Emirates in October, although I've heard that they're going to initiate service to Dubai using B777's.