I thought it was a flaw in the scenery (AFCAD file?) first - no visual slope indicators in KLAX from the East. I've checked the airport info and turns out all RWs have PAPIs from the West only. Any idea why? Thanks.

Hi,The majority of landings occur from the west, so that's where the PAPI's are. Almost all runways have ILS, so you can use that for glideslope control instead of PAPI's.Hope this helps,--Tom GibsonCal Classic Propliner Page: http://www.calclassic.comFreeflight Design Shop: http://www.freeflightdesign.comDrop by! ___x_x_(")_x_x___

Thanks, so the winds must mainly blow from the ocean and PAPI bulbs are expensive, aren't they? I'm just curious thinking, if not in LA, where else? :-)

Believe landings over the ocean are due to noise abatement at KLAX.

Thanks, that sounds reasonable.

No landings from the west? I used to live near LA. Flew out of LAX a gazillion times. Still fly there 3-4 times a year...driven past a gazillion and 29 times,. Every single TO and landing I've experienced has been to the west...I've never seen a landing from the west. At night I've counted 12, 14, 16 planes approaching from the east... the double 'conga line.' Am I missing someting? :>)

>No landings from the west? I used to live near LA. Flew out>of LAX a gazillion times. Still fly there 3-4 times a>year...driven past a gazillion and 29 times,. Every single TO>and landing I've experienced has been to the west...I've never>seen a landing from the west. At night I've counted 12, 14, 16>planes approaching from the east... the double 'conga line.'>> Am I missing someting? :>)Bill, any idea there are no PAPI indicators from the east then on all 4 of them? Most ILS runways in the major airports in Europe are equipped with PAPI bulbs.

Actually, the original message said none from the east.Every time Ive landed at KLAX for decades, we have come in from the west, (circle to land) or over the ocean when arriving from the east. Though in the Flight Sim, I usually make ILS landings from the east.

LAX uses west ops, weather-permitting, until midnight. After midnight they takeoff to the west and land head-on to the east, so that for noise abatement all ops are over the ocean. I think they go back to west ops around 6am.Otherwise, when there are weather fronts that come through, or Santa Ana winds, they will use east takeoffs and landings. I have seen east ops many many times at LAX, although I have never experienced it as a passenger. Often in the winter they will get front-related winds of 120 to 150 degrees at 15-30kts. And in the fall the Santa Ana winds will cause easterly winds of as much as 50pmh around LAX.Hope this helps explain.

Sure, thanks for the answers, very interesting.

To put it simply. I'm sure LAX has ILS and ability to have landings on all eight possible runways 4 east - 4 west. I have landed in both directions in real life.However, noise abatement would govern most of the time, as described above. So it doesn't surprise me that the ocean is made use of regularly.

Gents,There are indeed at least one ILS approach for each runway (24R and 25L each have CAT II and CAT III approaches).Prevailing winds at KLAX are out of the west, so runways 24R and 25L are used most often for landings, except after midnight for noise abatement, as described above.If you look at the approach plates for KLAS, you'll see that runways 6L, 6R, 7L and 7R are the only ones with PAPI. 24R and 25L have ALSF-2 approach lights, and all the remaining runways have MALSR.Very low visibility conditions occur surprisingly often along the Southern California coast, particularly in the afternoon, when low clouds and fog roll in off the ocean. When I lived in Sunset Beach, we'd often see the visibility go from 10 miles in haze to 1/4 mile in fog in about ten minutes. That happens sometimes in San Diego, too...it's called a Marine Layer.On the other hand, some of the clearest conditions we ever see are during the Santa Ana winds.