Now Arriving: 300 Airplane Enthusiasts at an In-N-Out Burger Near LAX

[mahatmakanejeeves]

I got a taste of #avgeek life this weekend with a quick jaunt to LA to report on #CrankyDorkfest. Read about it here:

Link to tweet

After landing at LAX, I actually walked over to In-N-Out. That's how close it is. Here's my first glimpse

As you can see, there's not much happening on the ground--all the action is in the sky. Here's a Lufthansa retro 747 coming in. There was a lot of excitement for this one

Link to tweet

A-HED

Now Arriving: 300 Airplane Enthusiasts at an In-N-Out Burger Near LAX

Aviation geeks from around the country flocked to this weekend’s Cranky Dorkfest to watch planes land

By Alison Sider
https://twitter.com/alyrose
[e-mail]
Sept. 19, 2021 4:20 pm ET

LOS ANGELES—The global coronavirus pandemic has made for a tough year and a half for the tight collection of aviation-obsessed amateurs and industry insiders who geek out at airplane get-togethers and travel around the world.

Air travel slowed to a near halt in the early months of the pandemic. Celebratory inaugurations of new routes and new planes were canceled. Even this year, many airline gatherings have been postponed, scaled down or held virtually.

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I can't get pictures from The Wall Street Journal. to appear correctly at DU. Here's another article:

JetTip

Why I Can't Wait for SpotLAX and Dorkfest 2019

Posted on Thursday, July 11, 2019 by Nick Benson
Topics: Events, LAX

SpotLAX and Dorkfest are quickly approaching! I'll be there with JetTip swag a-plenty, and will be contributing JetTip smart flight alert memberships for both events' giveaways. JetTip's filterable LAX arrival/departure board will also be freely available.

I can't wait for September because LAX has some of the best aviation spotting in the country, and for many of my avgeek friends, this represents the one opportunity per year that we get to see each other "in real life."

If you've never attended an event like this before, and are interested at all in commercial aviation, I can't encourage you enough to give it a shot this year. Here's a quick outline of both events, which happen at the same time, but aren't quite the same thing.



At Dorkfest, nobody minds when conversation is briefly interrupted by the arrival of another A380.

{snip}

[msongs]

1. I watch plane spotting vids quite often. not the same without 747s tho nt

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. SpotLAX / Dorkfest 2021: it's not just about the airplanes

JetTip

SpotLAX / Dorkfest 2021: it's not just about the airplanes

Posted on Monday, September 20, 2021 by Nick Benson
Topics: LAX



Aviation enthusiasts attending Dorkfest watch an arriving China Airlines A350-900.

Perhaps some of the emotions of being cooped up since COVID-19 hit last year are overwhelming my thought process, but as I sat on the rooftop deck of the H Hotel with friends and acquaintances, several of whom I knew, but hadn't met "in real life" before, it really hit me that SpotLAX and Dorkfest is so much more than just watching airplanes - it's really about hanging out with old friends and making new ones.



For those unfamiliar, Dorkfest and SpotLAX are held concurrently every fall around the periphery of LAX in Los Angeles. Dorkfest is the headline event, where enthusiasts and insiders mingle and share their love of aviation at the park across from the In-N-Out Burger - hallowed ground for us avgeeks. Organized by Brett Snyder, this year's Dorkfest had an estimated 300 attendees, and giveaways ranging from safety cards to roundtrip airfare. SpotLAX, equally laid back, is more or less an agreement to make a long weekend out of the trip, and hang out at the H Hotel, where attendees get a discounted block of rooms and access to their rooftop deck, which offers some great views of the surrounding area. SpotLAX's organizers, NYCAviation, also held a night photo workshop and Sunday morning's "Donuts on the Deck," which JetTip was proud to sponsor.

{snip}

Nick Benson

Nick lives in Burnsville, MN with his wife and three children. He grooves on railroad and aviation photography, geography, weather, and LEGO. A freelance web developer, he started JetTip's smart flight alert service in 2017. He can frequently be found atop a step ladder at MSP's Aircraft Viewing Area.

[Tikki]

3. Speaking of Commercial Air flights..

We are finally using our Airlines miles held in abeyance from 2020.

We are flying First Class..babies...from International airport to International airport twice.
Both times with flights within an hour or less from airport to airport.

All this to use up monies held in an account that wasn't going to be refunded and expires December 31st this year.

What we do..

The Tikkis