REQ spotting possibilities in California

[marcel32us]

Hi All,

In august I'll be visiting California on a basically non spotting trip, but have a few days to spare for spotting anyways. Homebase for those days will be my hotel close to LAX airport.

MIL:
I'd like to go and see some Nave/Marines stuff so I'm looking at Point Mugu, El Toro and/or Miramar. Could any kind soul inform me about current possibilities for reading numbers and/or taking some nice shots?
Some advice for USAF and USAr welcome as well ofcourse.

CIV:
Any tips on places I should visit are most welcome. I'm also looking for a good spotting location at LAX.

Thanks a lot in advance,
Marcel

[LVL410]

Hi Marcel

A couple of good places at LAX airport:
On short final of the northern runways (24L+R) there is an In & Out Burger on the corner of S Sepulveda Blvd and Lincoln Blvd. Good spotting and pictures with a maximum of 135mm! Unfortunately you cannot see much what´s going on on the southern runways (25L+R).

Along the Southern runways is a quarter called El Segundo which is slightly higher than the airport itself. From here you have a good few on the arrivals and departures of 25L+R with good photo possibilities. How to get there (by car)?: East of the airport you have the north south running Aviation Blvd on which the Proud Bird Restaurant is situated. Take a right turn at the second traffic light south of the restaurant to join the East Imperial Highway to the east. Take the first traffic light to the left after the crossing with Sepulveda Blvd. Thereafter the first light to the right to join the East Imperial Ave. Follow this road to the small spotting area. (33°55'51.33"N 118°24'42.04"W)

If you continue this road to the end (it´s a dead end road) you can see an old B707 and B727 fuselage.

Hope this helps planning your trip!

Richard Bakker

[worldliner]

Note that the Inn-N-Out spot has backlight most of the day. I was there a couple of years ago and all my photos had backlight. Sun is very bright over there in summer.

[LVL410]

Many thanks worldliner, that is something I forgot to write!

The Inn-N-Out fastfood place has indeed backlight most of the day. This spot is a pretty good spot if you´re there at sunsrise or at dusk. Last time I was there early morning, lots of Horizon CRJ700´s and DHC8´s came in on the northern runways (you see them hardly at the southern ones) and as well in the early morning hours you can catch several QANTAS planes (A330, B747, A380??).
If you need more info´s you may also PM.

Enjoy CA!

Richard Bakker

[Michel]

Last time I was there early morning, lots of Horizon CRJ700´s and DHC8´s came in on the northern runways (you see them hardly at the southern ones) and as well in the early morning hours you can catch several QANTAS planes (A330, B747, A380??).

You won't see the Qantas A380 on the northern runway. This one only uses the southern runway.

[toppiero]

at the hertz car borrow company at LAX airport you can spot very nice. I have also spotted there!

[nhoogenboom]

* NAS Point Mugu is very quiet...a few Hercs a day and that is it.
* The security at MCAS Miramar is very jumpy and doesn't really like people snooping around their airfield.

* You can try out March JARB. There is a museum next to it where you can walk around and take a look at the airfield as well. Inside the museum even is a grandstand situated along the fence. You can find most of the info in the airfield guide of March JARB.

* Another option and certainly worth the drive (of 4-5 hours) is Nellis AFB in Las Vegas.

Good luck!!

Gr.Niels

[Stefan]

MIL:
I'd like to go and see some Nave/Marines stuff so I'm looking at Point Mugu, El Toro and/or Miramar. Could any kind soul inform me about current possibilities for reading numbers and/or taking some nice shots?

El Toro is no longer...

Greetings,
Stefan

[Tingy]

If you around LAX, pas Long Beach 20mnt down the 405, with some luck there is a C17 outside.
Last month there is a B1 for 4 weeks, doing nothing.
Civil could be really fun, but not busy, has many BJets, and Jetbleu. There is a Catalina Flying boats DC3 flying based, sometimes a few times a day. At the end of the noon it is really good to make pics.

Good luck

[SquAdmin]

Don't forget NAS North Island, you can shoot the aircraft on finals from the beach there. Although it might be more quiet there since the S-3's have been retired, there's still enough cool stuff left and every now and then there is CAX going on. Also, there is a big maintenance facility on base, which generates extra traffic.

[marcel32us]

Thanks everyone for the input.

I figured North Island would be too far away for a day-trip, but it turns out it's quite possible, so I might try that. Been there before, but that's 12 years ago (I'm getting old ).

I've got some stuff to do in Long Beach, so I was already planning to make a short stop there as well.

Any more tips are of course most welcome!!

Marcel

[Starman]

Hi Marcel,

Just spent some time in CA, and obviously your first "port of call" should be the Scramble show dates page! Next, you can e.mail the PRO at Miramar, make up some story about why you need to visit the base, and maybe he'll drive you round. You'll see hundreds of a/c against the sun if you go in the morning, so ask for after lunch. They also have a huge museum there, and there are loads of other museum collections about, especially in San Diego.
We used Deluxe rent a car, 1/2 the price of some other quotes, make sure you ask for an upgrade when you get there, be cheeky, and don't forget the cafe round the corner with a load of plastic warbirds!

Anything else?