Random Thoughts...: Lunch Hobby

Friday, October 7, 2011

Lunch Hobby

Since I work close to LAX, I brought my new camera (Sony a55V w/18-250mm lens) to Imperial Hill during lunch to take some photos. Imperial Hill is near the corner of Imperial Highway and Main Street in El Segundo. There is a tiny observation area with benches and mounted telescopes for people who want to watch planes taking off. I got there around 1:30pm and there were quite a few people with binoculars and cameras with huge telephoto lenses. Some people were taking notes... not sure what that's about. Plane spotting?

Here are some planes I saw:

CO 1256 LAX-IAH (Boeing 737-800)

BA 237 LHR-LAX (Boeing 747-400)

K4 368 LAX-HNL (Boeing 747-200)
I've never heard of Kalitta Air before

AA 3037 LAX-SAN (Embraer ERJ-135)

DL 1934 LAX-JFK (Boeing 757-200)

UA 843 LAX-ORD (Boeing 757-200)

CX 882 HKG-LAX (Boeing 777-300ER)
I've been on this flight once before. Typically I come back from HKG on CX880 which arrives at ~9pm.

DL 2204 LAX-SLC (Boeing 757-200)
Wide shot of the south side of LAX. Delta flight is small plane on upper left of photo.

AA 2446 LAX-ORD (Boeing 757-200)
I never realized that US carriers operate so many Boeing 757s. I think I've only been on this type of plane once, from LAX to IAD (Dulles Airport). Three most common planes I've been on are Boeing 777s, Boeing 737s, and Airbus A320s.

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DL 1719 DTW-LAX (Boeing 757-200)
Another Boeing 757! This plane was busy today; it flew 4 times for a total of 10+ hours: Minneapolis/St. Paul to Detroit to Los Angeles back to Minneapolis/St, Paul and finally Denver.

Since I had to pick up Leon from LAX last night, I stopped to take some pictures at Imperial Hill at ~9pm. It was too dark to see individual planes clearly.

My work is actually right next to Hawthorne Municipal Airport. I know our CEO sometimes fly in/out in his Dassult Falcon 900 jet but it's mostly small prop planes. I must have caught some kind of rush hour since I saw 4 planes land in ~7 minutes. The FlightAware website only shows 1 of the 4 arrivals in its activity log for HHR. Maybe they don't have to file flight plans for some flights?