qantas a380

i joined a couple of other airplane enthusiasts and photographers at the proud bird restaurant on aviation to capture the a380 returning from a two hour demo flight for select vips such as los angeles mayor antonio villaraigosa and possibly actor/pilot john travolta. the a380 had arrived earlier this morning at around 7.30am and after it's passengers deplaned, it taxied over to the flight path museum in order for some press events to occur. then at about 12.40pm, with those lucky vips, it took off on 25L in front of a crowd at imperial hill. it took a northernly route up to the san francisco area and then it returned to lax. it will then resume normal flight operations with a return flight to australia just before midnight.

i had circled this day for weeks as i was anxious to see the a380 in person. having missed the first time it came to lax, i really wanted to catch the next visit... which i ended up missing again. so today i finally got my wish. it was amazing to see the a380 next to other planes and to see how it dwarfed them.

what also made this day fun was to just hang out with other people there and just talk about photography and general aviation. its as full as i've ever seen imperial hill.