Well, we’re finally at the end of 2020. Because I saw everyone doing this, I decided to copy them, so here is my (quite lazily put together) 2020 year in review.
January saw my first 2 trips to LAX and on the first one we were greeted by the Las Vegas Sands 747SP (and the only one still around at this point). This remains one of my favorite shots I’ve ever taken.
February saw me fly to Australia for a few hours to be on the final flight of Qantas’ OneWorld 747, VH-OEF. This photo was taken over the Pacific not long before we began our descent into LAX. This ended up being my only trip of 2020, but it was a great one, a crazy one, and one I’m super grateful to have taken.
Because of the pandemic, I didn’t spot from February until July, when I took 3 trips to San Bernardino to try to catch the only flying L-1011 in the world. The 3rd time was the charm, and I ended up with a photo that looks good but is unfortunately quite heat distorted and not perfectly sharp. Oh well, I’d still say it was worth it.
In July, I spotted for 2 days to get Qantas’ final 747 flight (the takeoff and the landing) and got some great stuff at golden hour. While I already posted a topic about it which included this shot (which @Altaria55 will say I stole from him, but obviously mine is much better so that can’t be true), I was super happy with the results from those trips.
November saw me take 2 trips to LAX, which ended up being my final LAX trips of the year. I saw some great stuff, including this Cargolux “Cutaway” 747-8. I never planned on posting this shot anywhere and it is definitely far from the quality I try to aim for, but I figured I’d throw it in here because why the heck not.
Those of you that follow me on Instagram may remember that I spotted this Cessna 172 but was unfortunately photobombed by an A350. It turned out okay though, so I kept it
On a serious note, the onslaught of aircraft retirements now means our daily Air France A380 is now a 777. As much as I hate the A380, it is an impressive bird and LAX is especially empty without it.
And finally, on that both November spotting trips, I spotted BB-8 in good conditions. Here is a bit of a classic LAX shot with it over the city in some late afternoon light. I did go to spot at Ontario not too long ago, but I don’t think my shots from there are good enough to warrant inclusion in this recap lol.
All in all, I probably visited more airports this year than any other year, but unfortunately they were almost all in Southern California. I have plans for multiple out-of-state trips next year and I’m hoping they come to fruition. A year ago, I wished you guys a happy and healthy 2020. We all know that the complete opposite happened, so since it seems I wish for the complete opposite of what happens, I’m going to wish you all a horrible year and hope nothing good comes to you. I truly appreciate the support you guys always have for my somewhat decent shots, and I’ll see you all in 2021!
My shot is VP-BLK. Hopefully they’ll find parts for it and repair it though, but I’m not optimistic