Helicopter Planespotting @ LAX

What an adventure! Once, it was a very special perspective, whenever you found photos on the internet, showing airplanes landing from above. But I feel like it has become a common sight now. So how is this possible, taking photos of an A380 landing up close? After some research, I found out that famous aviation-expert Sam Chui, together with Star Helicopter (based in Hawthorne, Los Angeles), created planespotting trips for everybody at LAX. The friendly ATC personell at LAX tower is able to accomodate one helicopter at a time, hovering betweeen the runway complexes... This gives amazing opportunities to shoot pictures of landing, departing and taxiing aircraft.

In december, I finally had the chance to return to Los Angeles, not only to fly a Cessna over my beloved scrapyards in the deserts of California, but also to take a helicopter ride over LAX. The view was amazing, not even having doors installed on the helicopter. Our pilot Paul seemed to be very experienced. Whenever an aircraft was approaching the famous In'n'Out burger, he perfectly aligned the helicopters left side with the airplane and was turning the helicopter so, that we did not even have to move the camera at all during the whole approach and landing.

Since it was not allowed, to bring any loose items such as camera lenses, SD-cards or batteries, I brought 2 cameras, one with a tele-lens and another one for wide-angle shots of the terminal complex. Have a look at these awesome shots and don't hesitate to get in touch if you got any questions about that trip :)