More heavy metal

Yesterday I showed you an Antonov AN-124. That got me to thinking about another recent heavy visitor, courtesy of the USAF: A C-5A Galaxy. As you can see, the weather was also a little bit nicer, although the afternoon sun isn't great for photography:

Heavy Metal

It's been a gray week at LAX; what we call 'June Gloom' has arrived early this year. I guess that's to make up for last year, when it arrived in August. As the airport is just off the beach, we're often afflicted with the fog or low clouds associated with the marine layer. As the day warms up, it sometimes burns off inland, but there are days that it never clears the airport. This creates the odd scenario where arrivals can get in quicker than the departures can get out thanks to the arrival end of the runways being clear, whereas the departure end is obscured. Photos taken in these conditions tend to be less than ideal:


Yesterday, however, while things were a little better, what prompted me to pull out the camera was the departure of an Antonov 124. We get an AN-124 passing through LAX a couple of times a year, so while not unheard of, it is sort of a special occasion.

This was my initial view of the AN-124: Parked on the Imperial Terminal ramp, across the south runway complex from the tower.

Right after sun up, we have a flock of cargo departures:

Besides the cargo guys, sun up also heralds a wave of air carrier departures, most of them bound for hubs or the east coast:

A little side note: This AirTran B737 is on departure roll. These guys always roll long: Compare to the previously shown departures, all of whom were well airborne by this point (the AN124 hasn't moved in any of these shots). Every AirTran flight I've ever been on has been completely full, and by the looks of it, so is this one, leaving for Atlanta.

About the time that first wave of departures wraps up, we get the first of our down-under arrivals:


The Antonov crew timed their departure well, for by the time they were ready to go we were into the breakfast time lull. Good thing too, since for some reason every AN-124 I've ever worked required four minutes in position on the runway before starting takeoff roll, and this one was no exception. I have yet to get a good explanation for why this is so; the joke yesterday was that that's how long the prayer takes.

It flies!

A funny thing happened at the airport

Last Saturday afternoon I was watching a trainee on ground control, which essentially means that I was sitting there with nothing to do (Saturday afternoons are the doldrums). Idly looking out the window, I watched as a ground crew loaded a large black Audi sedan through the side cargo door of a KLM 747. Nothing particularly special about that; we see cars as air freight daily, although usually they're being brought in, not carried out. The ICC ramp (International Cargo Complex) often has some exotic cars on pallets sitting around; we've seen Ferraris, Porsches, Jaguars, and Bentleys, as well as some that none of us could identify.

The trainee and I wondered how much it costs to air freight a car. Not having any actual information, we reasoned that it must not be cheap; even a small car weighs at least a ton or so. Once the Audi was loaded, the cargo door was closed and the loader moved off, and I forgot all about it.

A couple of hours later, I was working Local and the same trainee was monitoring. KLM approached the runway for departure, and I began the coordination with the other Local controller because the KLM's departure procedure was going to take it into the other controller's airspace. All went well until right after I told KLM to position and hold on the runway. As we watched, the airplane started around the corner and then made a sudden stop. I was about to query the pilot when he announced that they needed to hold for an alarm. I called the other local to let him know that my airplane wasn't ready after all, and then took care of a couple of other aircraft. In the succeeding lull, I turned to the trainee and jokingly said "I'll bet you it's the car alarm on that Audi." We both snickered and went on with whatever else needed our attention.

It was several minutes later when the KLM pilot came on and said that they were now ready to go again - There had been a car alarm going off in the back!

'Tis the season

In a previous post I lamented the decline in our traffic count at LAX, and the attendant slip from fourth to fifth busiest airport in the country (based upon passenger count). The approach of summer however, has brought a few changes.

The first is the appearance of a new airline at LAX. Allegiant Air started service from LAX on the first of the month. Unlike Virgin America and Jet Blue (expected next month), Allegiant is not going head-to-head with other carriers at LAX. In fact, most of Allegiant's destinations will be new offerings; only Monterey, California, and Medford, Oregon, already receive service from LAX (Monterey: United, via Skywest; Medford: Alaska, via Horizon). New destinations will include Bellingham, Washington; Missoula and Billings, Montana (the only service to Montana); Fargo, North Dakota (also the only service to that state), and McAllen, Texas (whose previous service from LAX ceased when the Delta Connection - Jetlink operation ended last year). Wichita, another city formerly served by Delta Connection - Jetlink, will also regain service (again, the only service to the state of Kansas). Other new destinations will be Des Moines, Iowa, and Sioux Falls, South Dakota (yet more previously unserved states). I think Grand Junction, Colorado, is also on the list. So far, Allegiant's operations here are pretty low-key, using only one gate and a couple of flights each day.


Allegiant's appearance doubles the number of MD-80 users at LAX: American is our other MD-80 operator, and in a big way. Alaska previously used MD-80's here, but they were retired last year; Alaska's operations here are now all various 737 models.

Some other carriers have added some new destinations: AirTran, which already operates several daily flights to their Atlanta, has expanded to Baltimore - Washington and Milwaukee. Both of these destinations were dropped at the end of last summer. Also dropped at the end of last summer was Spirit's nightly flight from/to Fort Lauderdale, which has just resumed. Meanwhile Canadian carrier WestJet has supplemented their Calgary service with a new flight to Edmonton, using a B737-700. Previously Edmonton was only served by Air Canada via their Jazz regional partner, in a CRJ-900. WestJet has also started using larger B737-800's on the Calgary route. Unlike the others just mentioned, the WestJet service to Edmonton is really new, not just a resumption of previously suspended service.

A WestJet B738 on gate 24, while a B737 taxis past on Delta.

AeroMexico has also started bringing in B737-800's. Unlike their older aircraft, these have all-over paint schemes. I have seen a few B737-700's in this all-over scheme as well.

This Midwest B717 is preparing to leave as an AirTran B737 taxis in on Bravo.

Midwest has returned in its mainline form using the B717 (nee MD-95), having been represented since last fall by their regional partner Republic, who used Embraer E170's. So far, they're only making one daily flight to Kansas City; last summer they also had flights to Milwaukee in MD-80's. After Virgin America moved to Terminal 3, Midwest was displaced to Terminal 4 (the other displaced carriers, Sun Country, Spirit, AirTran, and Frontier, all moved to Terminal 6).

Summer is not the only time we have 'seasonal' flights; earlier this year we saw now-suspended service to a number of winter ski destinations: Montrose, Aspen and Eagle, Colorado; Jackson Hole, Wyoming; and Mammoth, California. Sometimes we get extra flights to the Mexico tourist places during the spring break season that will continue on into the summer, namely Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, and San Jose del Cabo. Similarly, Los Angeles is considered a seasonal destination by several foreign carriers, so far none of which I've seen return: Aer Lingus, LTU, and Air India.


LA Times: Allegiant Air's prudent ways help it soar amid slump in travel