That was one great Dorkfest at LAX yesterday. Thank you to everyone who came out, ate In-N-Out burgers, and watched airplanes. It was definitely the best turnout we’ve ever had. This photo from David Parker Brown at AirlineReporter sums it up quite nicely.
The weather was spectacular and we had plenty of exotic arrivals ranging from the soon-to-be-gone airberlin A330 all the way to the Saudia 777-300ER. Southwest was kind enough to send (presumably by dumb luck) one of the old “desert gold” aircraft along with the Colorado and Nevada airplanes. It added some nice variety.
I also want to thank all the airlines that stepped up and provided goodies to have me give away this year. Southwest started the trend with this 737 MAX model that’s hot off the presses.
United also came to play with the sentimental favorite, a 747-400.
I cried a little inside when I had to part with those, even if my wife may have felt differently.
Thanks to British Airways for the A380 model, to Delta for the A350 model, and to EVA for the amenity kits and pajama sets. And of course, thanks to all of you who showed up with goodies of your own to donate and trade. This was a lot of fun.
To give things away, I had everyone write their names on paper, so after the fact I counted them up. We had 73 names, and I know there were at least a dozen or more who didn’t write theirs down. This really was a great turnout. It certainly helped to work with NYCAviation to schedule this the same weekend as their joint event with PHX Spotters. And the APEX conference being in Long Beach this week was timed quite nicely as well.
I really had a great time and stayed a couple hours longer than I expected… until the last few people headed back to LAX for their flights home. My only regret is that with so many people, I didn’t have nearly enough time to visit with everyone as I would have hoped.
If you didn’t make it, you missed out. But there’s always next year. I think others will agree that it’s a great day.
Thanks again to all who came.
