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Captain Ahab meets the "White Whale"

The A380 is coming to Los Angeles for a big press show on Monday.

Hmmm. The A380 is coming to LAX and Jerrys Deli is right down the road from LAX in Marina Del Ray. Well, thats enough right there to justify a quick visit to my ancestral homeland, dont you think?

Well I thought so too...

So a few phone calls to the right folks,(thanks again Roger!) and my previous Monday plans are now completely shot to hell, just so I can look at the Airbus A380 as it makes its arrival in the United States.

If you're in the area on Monday and you want to get a great view of it without going through the hassle of going into the airport, I recommend going to the In and Out Burger on Sepulveda Blvd at about 9:30am. It's a great place to watch planes on any given day, but this particular day and timeyou will get to see the Airbus A380 arrive. You shouldnt have any trouble figuring out which one is the A380, it will be bigger than anything you will see in the sky or on the airport that particular day.

I don't care that the A380 is built in Europe and competes with the home team of Boeing, all I care is that its an airplane, and it flies. I appreciate the engineering of aircraft the way some people appreciate a work of fine art from one of the masters.

I'm an airplane freak from way back. As a kid I probably made every aircraft in 1/72 scale that existed in kit form. The entire 'Battle of Britain' was fought in minature over my head with model aircraft that were hung from the ceiling. If you've ever seen the model plane collection at the Chino Air Museum, that was pretty much my bedroom as a kid. I'm a pilot and a real life airplane builder as well. My dad used to say that the only reason I worked anywhere was to get enough money to go flying and he wasnt totally wrong. Where most men dream at night of swimsuit models of questionable moral values, I dream of doing Immelmans in a Spitfire or landing on a carrier deck, or just watching the landscape go by from the cockpit window. I have on occasion traveled across three states just to see an obscure one-of-a-kind aircraft( the douglas skyshark - idaho. been there - done that... ) I willingly confess, It's an obsession. Fly a T-6 over my house at any hour of the day and I'm likely to come running out of the door like a kid chasing after an ice cream truck.

Now I get to cover a real live aviation event. I get permission to oogle airplanes.

This is one sweet deal.

Let the blogging commence...

Posted @ March 16, 2007 02:37 PM | Aviation