Watching an China Eastern A330 land at #Dorkfest
What is more exciting than watching an airplane land? Watching it with about 100 other AvGeeks, of course! Last Saturday, many of us made our way to our way to the IN-N-OUT next to LAX to enjoy Dorkfest 2017, hosted by the great Brett Snyder (aka Cranky Flier).
A British Airways A380 coming in for landing
Dorks, geeks, nerds, cool dudes (or dudettes) – whatever. What you call this group does not matter. It is all about coming together to share a passion for aviation! Plus… burgers, fries, and shakes.
Dang those planes get low. A Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 landing at LAX.
When I tell my friends that I am going to fly to a city for a day trip, most of them think I am crazy, but I love it. On Saturday, I got up at 4:00am to start my journey to Los Angeles to hang out with some airline dorks at the LAX In-N-Out.
For only $40, we were able to drive this baby around. Only put 20 miles on her though.
Brett Snyder (AKA CrankyFlier) organized the event and about 30 people from around the west coast came to talk planes, eat some good food and spot for airplanes. I was heading down with my friend Mal and even though it is pretty easy to get from the airport to the In-N-Out, he was able to get a great deal on a Ford Mustang Convertible, so we decided to cruise in style. Problem is that we were requested to pick up @danwebbage and @briadavi and a convertable gets a bit tight with four guys in it, but we made it work.
Thai Airways Boeing 777-200. Walked down the street a bit to get better lighting. Love this livery.
I had never been to this In-N-Out (I know crazy right), so I was very excited. I have seen many photos and heard great things about the ability to spot, but photos and words can really not do it justice. The planes get so darn low!
A Lufthansa Boeing 747-400 takes from from LAX.
After hanging out at the In-N-Out, it was time to head over to the other side of the airport: Imperial Hill. It was definitely challenging making sure poles, lines and trees did not get in the shot (it is almost like people do not design infrastructure with spotters in mind), but the views were great.
The planes were exciting, but it is hard to beat talking to other aviation dorks about airlines. I am surely looking forward to next year’s event. Now, it is time to put my energies into Aviation Geek Fest 2013.
After being at LA for less than 12 hours, it was time to board my Virgin America flight and head home.
Here are some additional goodies from the event:
* 43 of my photos of #DorkFest
* Cranky’s story
* Images from @Braniff747SP
If you attended #DorkFest and have photos you want to share, either leave a comment or email me (
da***@ai*************.com
) the link and I will add them to this story.
Good food. Good views. What more do you want? Photo by Paul Paulsen – AirTeamImages.
What are you doing on Saturday, September 29th? Hanging out with a bunch of AvGeeks at the In ‘N Out Burger by LAX? Correct answer.
JOIN US! CrankyFlier (you might know him as Brett Snyder) is having his second annual Cranky Dorkfest and I am joining in on the fun. Join other AvGeeks to talk about aviation, take some photos and spill condiments all over your shirt — do not worry, we will not judge.
There are some pretty cheap tickets into LAX right now (got mine from SEA for $149 round-trip), so what a perfect time to do a little mileage run. Nothing you really need to do, except show up at 11:00am PT at the In ‘N Out and bring a camera. Hope to see you there!
