Bird Strike!

Thanks to US Airways putting their Airbus in the Hudson river, everyone is now aware of the danger of birds. In case you missed that little news item, here's a summary:



I've hit birds as well, with airplanes, pellet guns, trucks, and now . . .

My mountain bike!

There would've been pictures except that the phone (with its built-in camera) ended up in the mighty raging LA River. Okay, maybe that's overstating it just a little . . . how about the lame, tepid, barely liquid LA River (but liquid enough to do in the phone, nonetheless). Fortunately it was the spare el-cheapo phone I carry on the bike. No permanent damage to me, the bike, or the pigeon. But I'm thinking of adding a pellet gun to the bike's equipment list . . .

Who's That? Part 9 - the Regionals

Okay, here we go - This week's edition of "Who's That?" focuses on some of the various regional airlines that we've seen at LAX within the last year. They're shown here grouped in alphabetical order of their radio callsigns - which often have no connection to the name on the aircraft. A few have shown up in different paint schemes, and I've tried to show you an example of each that I've seen (with the exception of anniversary or sports team 'specials').

Huh?

I was in the store the other day to pick up some cat food, and happened to walk past the paper goods aisle. I saw a lady pick up a box of Kleenex, hold it to her ear, then shake it. I guess she didn't want to get a broken one . . . ?

Who's That? Answers, Part 8

Okay, here we are: the end of another week (for you, anyway - it's Tuesday in my world) and the answers to the latest batch of mystery tails. More to come next week. Have a good weekend!

Las Vegas-based Allegaint Air started flying out of LAX in May of this year to a number of 'vacation' destinations, using various models of the MD-80. While they're still adding flights, they have also announced that the LA to Monterey, CA route will be discontinued after Labor Day due to poor passenger volume. That particular route is one of the few routes Allegiant flies out of LAX with any direct competition - Skywest (United) and American Eagle also operate to Monterey, and both use much smaller aircraft than Allegiant's MD-80's.

This one was probably not so easy: Florida West is a cargo airline based in Miami that flies to Central and South American destinations. Besides LAX, they can also be seen in this country in Atlanta and Dallas.

Hawaiian operates several flights a day from LA to their hub in Honolulu, all in B763's. Over the next decade, Hawaiian will be adding new Airbuses to the fleet, having ordered A330's and the new A350's. Hawaiian has the distinction of being the oldest US airline that has never had a fatal accident.

Midwest Airlines, formerly known as Midwest Express, operates one flight a day into LAX from their secondary hub in Kansas City using a B717. During the winter, this route was operated by Republic Airlines under contract, using the smaller E-170. In years past, Midwest also offered flights to Milwaukee using MD-80's, but those planes were retired in a cost-cutting move.

Jet Blue started flying into LAX in mid-June, with two flights a day each from New York JFK and Boston Logan. The first pair show up around lunch time, and the second pair late in the evening, all in Airbus 320's. Jet Blue operates the world's largest fleet of A320's, with a variety of different tail schemes. Sharp-eyed readers will notice that one of these photos was actually taken at the Long Beach airport.

Sun Country is a Minneapolis-based airline that has its roots in the demise of Braniff. After Braniff shut down in 1982, a group of former Braniff employees engineered the creation of Sun Country, using an ex-Braniff B727. Sun Country now flies an all-B737 fleet, using -700 and -800 models. This picture dates from last year, when Sun Country still could be seen at LAX during daylight hours. Nowadays, we get one flight a day, and it shows up close to midnight.

After some of the hard ones we've seen recently, I had to give you an easy one: United Parcel Service is the world's largest package delivery service; now known as UPS, they show up a couple of times a day here, usually in a B763 like this one. Unlike Fedex, who at times has a dozen aircraft on the ground at LAX, UPS rarely has more than one; most of their Los Angles area air operations are handled at the LA/Ontario airport, about 40 miles east of LAX.