jacknyoc

This may seem like a crazy question...and I hope it belongs here...but has anyone seen the jumbo jet (I believe it's a 747, but could be a 340...it has four engines) that flies east-bound over south Orange County (Newport Coast/Mission Viejo) many afternoons around 4:30. Most times it's quite high but visible...sometimes (like yesterday) it was pretty low. Whenever I've flown a jumbo out of LAX on international flights we've usually made the turn and headed east farther north of here, closer to LA. We get SNA and some LGB east-bound air traffic, but this must be out of LAX (since it's a jumbo) and the only jumbo I see. If you've seen it, any idea on carrier, route, etc? Thanks.

danielonn

It could be a BA 747 to Europe or some other airline or maybe a flight from Asia to Dallas or some other southern city. You could use a flight tracker to see exactly what it is. It may be a cargo plane for all we know. If it's a A 340 it could be Air France to Paris. Sometimes LAX will re-route planes over Orange County to Europe and then head north towards Hudson Bay. Not all flights use the same routing. One day it could be a longer headding to the east before headding north due to traffic patterns. But if it's over San Diego then it would be more than likely coming from somewhere in the Pacific.

jacknyoc

thanks for the reply. you're right...it's a wild shot...but thought I would ask and might get a reply. I really think it's an LAX flight...it's too low to be otherwise...but high enough to be difficult to see the markings. maybe someone's been on one of the flights and can say. thanks, seat 1A

Insiderdude

Perhaps something inbound from the Pacific? ... like SQ20 that lands at LAX for 17:25 ... IIRC it's an A-340. Wild shot here too.

hyunja

It doesn't even have to be one of those long hauls but a domestic flight originating from LAX headed to DFW or other southern hub city. Many a times when I've been on LAX-DTW flight, the plane takes off over the ocean and makes a big southern loop over the ocean and flies over the Newport area then Palm Springs before heading to DTW. This plane is probably at about 10,000 ft level at that point so the aircraft you are talking about is doing similar thing.
Any plane in transit from HNL to southern cities could fly over the area but it would be flying at the cruising altitude of about 37,000+ feet. Unless you had a binocular to look for the contrails, you'd be hard pressed to be able to say that aircraft had four engines. Any plane heading in from Asia would be flying a much northerly route so they would not be visible in SoCal.

HJ

hoyateach

If you have some time, punch in the airport you think is the origination point and see what crops up for that time window: http://flytecomm.com/cgi-bin/trackflight

jacknyoc

Thanks. the four engines make me think it's international. And I think you're right about the 10,000 foot altitude...looks about right.

jacknyoc

thank you...helpful link. have you heard of any similar link listing all departure flights (this only seems to be able to do arriving flights)?

hoyateach

Oops, sorry - haven't used it in a bit.

Try here: http://www.flightarrivals.com/cgi-bi...bjects/Flights

Click on the city/airport tab. Caveat: it only covers flights within a 2 hour window of when you check it, 30 minutes back and 90 minutes forward.

slariz

Try http://www.flightaware.com. Most comprehensive FREE flight tracker I've seen on the net. Hope that helps.

jacknyoc

thnak you...very interesting and helpful