Cool shot of the day

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

Where'd it go?

I took some nice shots this weekend, but when I hooked the camera up to the Mac, one entire day's worth of shots seemed to have disappeared. In their place, I found this. I'm sure I had a purpose here, but for the life of me I don't remember what I had in mind when I attempted this shot.

Normally, I don't keep photos like this. I do periodically share them with Totally Jacked Up Aircraft Photos, where plenty of my failed photos can be seen. With the recent acquisition of a new camera, I've produced a fair quantity of shots like this lately. Just for the sake of nothing in particular, here's what that shot should have looked like:


Meanwhile, here's another shot of the ongoing removal of the American maintenance shed, taken this afternoon:

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!

Construction update

It's been a while since I've shown you how the construction is progressing on the Tom Bradley International Terminal. So despite today's reappearance of June gloom, here are a couple of shots. Seen above is the north end of the TBIT, as seen from the tower. Below, the south end:


There are also a few extra tidbits in these shots. The north-end photo also shows the repaving project taking place in the D-10 alley, which has temporarily deprived us of nine or ten gates. Another item is this:


Just yesterday, demolition began on the former American Airlines maintenance facility. Just as the old American Eagle terminal had to make way for the Taxiway S relocation project a couple of years ago, the old American maintenance shed is going bye-bye as the next stage of the Taxiway T project. The above shot was taken fairly early yesterday morning. By lunchtime, they'd gotten this far:


By the mid-afternoon, just before I went home, they'd cut all the way through:


This shot was taken today, about 24 hours later:


But wait! There's another little something special, barely seen in the opening photos. Can you spot it? Here's a closer view:


Not yet? How about now?


Now that we have five A380 arrivals each day, the midday cluster of three (Korean, Singapore, and Air France) means that somebody has to park at one of the remote gates. So far, it's either been 212 or 216. This is how an Air France A380 appears from the tower when it's parked at Gate 212.