Just curious.

I assume a lot more VFR traffic thru SoCal Approach?

It just seems that there are way more LAX overhead shots on a.net than any other commercial airport.

Thoughts?

It’s a super busy airport next to the ocean and the second largest city in America? And it’s always sunny.

jfklganyc wrote:

Just curious.

I assume a lot more VFR traffic thru SoCal Approach?

It just seems that there are way more LAX overhead shots on a.net than any other commercial airport.

Thoughts?

There's a dedicated helicopter service for spotters at LAX, kind of a bucket list item for aviation photographers. I think SYD offers a similar opportunity as well.

LAX has a VFR Cooridor directly over the airport at 2500 feet. If it’s clear, you can fly a GA aircraft north or south over the midfield of the 25s or 26s without a clearance from tower, all you require is a Class Bravo clearance. Any other major airport in the country this would be unfathomable.

jetskipper wrote:

LAX has a VFR Cooridor directly over the airport at 2500 feet. If it’s clear, you can fly a GA aircraft north or south over the midfield of the 25s or 26s without a clearance from tower, all you require is a Class Bravo clearance. Any other major airport in the country this would be unfathomable.

PHX has one as well, though 4000msl I believe.

Varsity1 wrote:

jetskipper wrote:

LAX has a VFR Cooridor directly over the airport at 2500 feet. If it’s clear, you can fly a GA aircraft north or south over the midfield of the 25s or 26s without a clearance from tower, all you require is a Class Bravo clearance. Any other major airport in the country this would be unfathomable.

PHX has one as well, though 4000msl I believe.

Pretty much every Class Bravo airport has one of these. It's called a Class Bravo Transition. PHX has the one north/south transition corridor, but other airports sometimes have multiple transitions. It all depends on runway setup and traffic flows.

What really irritate me about these photos is that they’re classed under the “air to air” category.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but that’s “air to ground”. AmIRight.

jetskipper wrote:

LAX has a VFR Cooridor directly over the airport at 2500 feet. If it’s clear, you can fly a GA aircraft north or south over the midfield of the 25s or 26s without a clearance from tower, all you require is a Class Bravo clearance. Any other major airport in the country this would be unfathomable.

Back in my days at The University of North Dakota I was vectored by Minneapolis Approach directly over MSP. Most of the time Air Traffic Control will do what they can for you when operational workload permits. All you have to do is ask and sound like you know what you're doing.

Peace

I enjoy the abundance of overhead shots. It's always been a pictorial status report of airport progress (or lack of it) for me.
I lived in Playa Del Rey back in the 90's and have been obsessed with LAX ever since.

Thanks for asking the question. When I read the OP I realized that’s true.

And....that’s interesting about those bravo clearances. I wish I had a pilot’s license!

The LAX Mini Route starts from around TOA to SMO. The route has vfr traffic flying at 2000ft MSL right over LAX

mast2407 wrote:

What really irritate me about these photos is that they’re classed under the “air to air” category.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but that’s “air to ground”. AmIRight.

Most of the photos posted tend to be aircraft in the air from what I’ve seeb, but some would be A2G.

jetskipper wrote:

LAX has a VFR Cooridor directly over the airport at 2500 feet. If it’s clear, you can fly a GA aircraft north or south over the midfield of the 25s or 26s without a clearance from tower, all you require is a Class Bravo clearance. Any other major airport in the country this would be unfathomable.

The “Mini Route” is now closed. The SFRA or special fight rules is the only fixed wing route over the airport at 3500/4500. We also have restricted the photo helicopters lately. Also, this route always required a class B clearance from LAX tower. And our runways are the 24’s / 25’s.

mast2407 wrote:

What really irritate me about these photos is that they’re classed under the “air to air” category.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but that’s “air to ground”. AmIRight.

I think you are right, and I've done photos like these from Sydney. I don't classify them as air-to-air. Real air to air is photographing a plane flying in formation with you.

mast2407 wrote:

What really irritate me about these photos is that they’re classed under the “air to air” category.

The way I see it:
If the subject aircraft is still in the air, it would be A2A.
If the subject aircraft has wheels on the ground, it would be A2G.

atcsundevil wrote:

Pretty much every Class Bravo airport has one of these. It's called a Class Bravo Transition.

Does any other Class B airport show a Transition on the chart, as at LAX and PHX?

timz wrote:

atcsundevil wrote:

Pretty much every Class Bravo airport has one of these. It's called a Class Bravo Transition.

Does any other Class B airport show a Transition on the chart, as at LAX and PHX?

A few of them do (LAS is another one), but every Class Bravo is different. The routes in which aircraft transition can vary, so they aren't always (or even usually) published. Sometimes the approach control requires specific routes to transition so it doesn't interfere with their flows, but it's not always quite as straightforward as it is in PHX.

There's an article from Flying that describes the process pretty well. https://www.flyingmag.com/technique/tip ... b-airspace

You could always get VFR flight following with the Center prior to reaching approach control airspace, which generally makes transitioning pretty easy. VFR flight following is dependent on controller workload, but Center controllers working low sectors aren't generally as adverse to providing VFR services as some approach controls. If the aircraft is already radar identified on a discrete code with a VFR flight plan, it's easier for the approach controller to "buy off".

cpd wrote:

mast2407 wrote:

What really irritate me about these photos is that they’re classed under the “air to air” category.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but that’s “air to ground”. AmIRight.

I think you are right, and I've done photos like these from Sydney. I don't classify them as air-to-air. Real air to air is photographing a plane flying in formation with you.

Let's not get into that argument. As far as A.net is concerned, Air-to-Air is flying-aircraft-to-flying-aircraft. Doesn't matter whether it's an organized photo shoot in formation or not.

vikkyvik wrote:

cpd wrote:

mast2407 wrote:

What really irritate me about these photos is that they’re classed under the “air to air” category.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but that’s “air to ground”. AmIRight.

I think you are right, and I've done photos like these from Sydney. I don't classify them as air-to-air. Real air to air is photographing a plane flying in formation with you.

Let's not get into that argument. As far as A.net is concerned, Air-to-Air is flying-aircraft-to-flying-aircraft. Doesn't matter whether it's an organized photo shoot in formation or not.

There is no argument. Taking photos of aircraft parked up at TBIT is not air-to-air. Fair play for taking a nice photo, and it takes some skill, but for the love of all that is holy, put your photos under the right category.

mast2407 wrote:

Taking photos of aircraft parked up at TBIT is not air-to-air.

That is, in fact, exactly what I said.

I'm sure there are some shots that are mis-categorized. I find such shots whenever I do searches with category filters. Sometimes I'll email the DB editors and let them know.

However, I was mainly addressing this:

cpd wrote:

Real air to air is photographing a plane flying in formation with you.

Anyway, out of interest, I just quickly breezed through the last ~200 A2A uploads from LAX. I found 2 photos that are definitely mis-categorized, and a few more where it's difficult to tell (airplane is rotating, wheels might be off the ground). Overall, I don't think it's a huge issue.

If you encounter such examples, please feel free to use the "Correction" button (right side, right below the photo) to correct the category.

Thanks!

To answer the OP's question, LAX is one of a few airports where it is possible to do air-to-air photo flights (Star Helicopters). And the abundance of traffic (quantity and variety) makes it very popular...ergo, a lot of A2A images from LAX. Having done it several times myself, it is quite a thrill not only to be doing laps around LAX at 1500 feet above the runways in a helicopter with no doors, but also to later look at the images and enjoy the perspective that I captured.

Jehan

Hi Jehan,

What are the helicopter vibrations like? Have you rented a gyro (as mentioned on the Star Helicopters website) and would you recommend it? Or should you use VR/IS or nothing at all?

32andBelow wrote:

It’s a super busy airport next to the ocean and the second largest city in America? And it’s always sunny.

Don't ever believe LAX is always sunny! I used to think that until I started going out there about 12 years ago. The marine layer has ruined quite a few of my trips, plus a lot of times when it is sunny the haze is awful. When you do hit the weather right LAX is amazing.

dutchspotter1 wrote:

Hi Jehan,

What are the helicopter vibrations like? Have you rented a gyro (as mentioned on the Star Helicopters website) and would you recommend it? Or should you use VR/IS or nothing at all?

No problems at all with vibrations in the Raven. I've done it 4 times and all on the R44 (splitting the cost with a friend). I don;t think there's a need to rent a gyro for daytime flight; VR/IS seems to work just fine. I suppose if you were to do an evening or night flight a gyro would come in handy.

Jehan

andrew50 wrote:

32andBelow wrote:

It’s a super busy airport next to the ocean and the second largest city in America? And it’s always sunny.

Don't ever believe LAX is always sunny! I used to think that until I started going out there about 12 years ago. The marine layer has ruined quite a few of my trips, plus a lot of times when it is sunny the haze is awful. When you do hit the weather right LAX is amazing.

So what time of year do you usually go to LA? I went a few times in November and I've always had great weather, mostly clear blue skies and little (heat)haze.

dutchspotter1 wrote:

So what time of year do you usually go to LA? I went a few times in November and I've always had great weather, mostly clear blue skies and little (heat)haze.

Winter is generally pretty good for LAX photography. Clearer skies, less heat haze, and less marine layer spoiling the light.

However, the marine layer can happen year-round - just depends on the weather.

I am curious about doing it at PHX. Has anyone done it there? Does ATC allow it? Since the terminal layout between 2 sets of runways is similar to LAX I don't see why it could not happen. But I have yet to see a photo.

Never seen photos of PHX overhead either, but MIA and LHR have been done, so why not PHX? Worth a shot I'd say. Does PHX have a VFR corridor running overhead/next to the airport?

airkas1 wrote:

Never seen photos of PHX overhead either, but MIA and LHR have been done, so why not PHX? Worth a shot I'd say. Does PHX have a VFR corridor running overhead/next to the airport?

I found this PHX Class B chart and it looks like there is an east and west transition route but those I think are for transitioning not loitering as in a helicopter. And they are not over the center like LAX but over each end. So I am not sure how this could be used for photography. ATC isn't likely to let aircraft deviate from these published routes I would think? Also as the chart says available altitudes are 4500 to 5500 so that is much higher than LAX.

https://skyvector.com/?ll=33.41316801241238,-111.72957397797232&chart=121&zoom=4&fpl=%20KMZJ%20IWA%20KFFZ%203334N11146W%20KSDL