Alaska Airlines PANC to KLAX

[NGXfanatic 85]

Hello folks, per my notice from my previous Alaska Airlines NGX flight from KSEA to KPHL, I have undertaken another nice long haul, this time between Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (PANC) and the famous Los Angeles International (KLAX).   I have been looking forward to seeing some breathtaking scenery, a nice change of pace from the monotonous urban and suburban land I tend to frequently fly over in the U.S.   

 

ASA156 is a 5 hour trip, as flown by the real flight on May 31, 2013, I flew it in about 4 hours 54 minutes.   Weather was excellent throughout with slight headwinds tapering off to crosswinds from the west upon entry into Washington State.   Takeoff was from runway 32, using the NOEND1 SID; arrival was on the SADDE6 STAR to ILS runway 24R.   Part of my laborious research during the preflight planning is pulling up the LiveATC feed of the actual flight (both departure and arrival) to confirm I use the same runways, vectors, speeds, altitudes.  While listening to KLAX approach giving arrival instructions to the real flight, I noticed the controller gave instructions to the crew to land on runway 25L.   Anyone with knowledge of KLAX runway ops knows that the 24's handle departures/arrivals for airlines serving the north side of the airport, while the 25's serve airlines that use the south side terminals.  I thought that was stange, as I yelled at my computer screen that the controller is wrong, but sure enough, the Alaska pilot caught the error and asked for runway 24R, and was granted his request.   The steps I go though to fly each flight as "real as it gets" can seem like overkill, but I enjoy the research I assure you!   

 

Anyways, lets get on with it!

 

Google Earth map representing the route of flight

 

Preflight underway at gate C4 at Ted Stevens International.  Notice company aircraft to my left is a Combi 737, which can carry cargo and passengers simultaneously.   AI 737 is by FAIB (FSXAIBureau), and I am sure a layman would not know they are AI models upon first seeing them.

 

Taxing to the active runway, I notice two aircraft ahead of me in the queue.   That's the first time I've seen the "Panda" Fedex 777 in the sim.   It's nice to see my efforts to keep my AI up to date paying off!

 

Line up and hold.   Waiting traffic is a 767-300 operated by Omni Air International, a charter airline based in Tulsa, OK with a 777 and 767 fleet.

 

Gear up!  PANC is a big base of operations for two fierce package delivery rivals, UPS and Fedex.  Lots of different cargo liveries can be seen here in Anckorage.

 

Following the RNAV NOEND1 SID, the 737-700 is positioned on a southeast heading to fly down the South Alaskan coast for the long trip to the warmer climate of Los Angeles.

 

Glaciers!

 

More picturesque scenery as I reach the Top of Climb.  

 

I cross into Washington state, overflying KAST, Astoria Regional Airport.

 

This is Eugene, Oregon.

 

Off in the distance, you can barely make out the San Francisco Bay area.

 

All good things must come to an end.  Time for descent over the rolling hills of the north California coast.

 

Gently descending at 250kts at about 9500ft and descending to 7,000ft, abeam KLAX on the downwind for ILS 24R.

 

Following ATC instructions to descend to 5000ft and 220kts, watch as the city of Los Angeles downtown skyscrapers appear.

 

On the right turn to intercept the ILS localizer for the visual approach, 170kts and flaps 1 extended.

 

1000 feet AGL, time to drop final flaps 30 and slow down to the stablized approach speed, 132kts.

 

Main gear touchdown and one of my favorite views, the wing view on touchdown.

 

Welcome to LAX.

 

I love seeing all the international carriers at KLAX, here we see a Qantas A380 and Air Tahiti Nui A340.  Two Virgin Australia 777's are seen also, must be parked there in the remote stands because someone (namely me) has forgotten to update the AFCAD to allow them to park at Terminal 5 in addition to the one jumbo gate at Terminal 3 that is occupied by a third Virgin Australia 777, the same terminal I'm told to arrive at. 

 

Chocks on, and passengers can now disembark here at Terminal 3.   There is the third Virgin Australia 777 I was talking about!

 

I love LAX, I think my next flight will be from here.   It's a tossup between Vancouver or Portland.

See you next time!

[IFR7700 228]

Nicely done, great flight

[NGXfanatic 85]

Thanks, it was an scenic one, that's for sure!

[compilot16 13]

Very nice

[Rob Haynes 4]

Great captures and story!

Although, the runways aren't always based on the operators location at the airport.  On just about every United flight I had from SEA to LAX I landed on RWY 24R and then taxied to the south end where terminal 6/7 for United is.  My recent flight with Virgin from FLL we landed on rwy 25L and then taxied all the way to the north end and terminal 3.

I don't know if it's based on their direction they're coming in at or what, but I also have been seeing Alaska 737's coming in on both sets of runways as of late.

[NGXfanatic 85]

Interesting Rob, and it makes sense in a way.   I'm sure if traffic is busy, the controllers have the authority to allocate traffic, no matter which terminal or direction they are coming from, to either north or south runway as necessary to improve the flow.

[Matsu787 104]

Great flight there.....

Why don't you try the payware sceneries of PANC and KLAX?

 

 

Thanks

Kin M.

(Klax)

[NGXfanatic 85]

Both airports are payware, Aerosoft Anckorage and Blueprint KLAX.