It was another fantastic Cranky Dorkfest. Thanks to everyone who joined us yesterday. But what about those who didn’t make the trip? Well, let’s show you what you missed. It was a great day for the avgeek community, and I really do mean “community” in the best way. So many people and companies came together to make this a special day.

Saturday morning started with the LAX ramp visit in partnership with LA World Airports (LAWA). The airport started things an hour earlier this year at 8am to make sure people had ample time to mill around and watch airplanes. LAWA also handed out a surprisingly cool hat to everyone who was on the list.

There was a DJ and some backpack giveaways along with free Randy’s Donuts for all. We saw all sorts of airplanes coming and going, but the highlight were the airplanes that were even closer. Two airlines brought in static displays for attendees to climb around.

First up was American which brought out the stunningly-beautiful Astrojet. I mean, just look at this thing shining in the morning sun.

Delta meanwhile brought out an A350. This airplane looked great outside, but it was pretty beat up inside. Might be time for a little refresh, but that didn’t stop anyone from enjoying walking around the airplane, visiting the crew rest area in the back, and checking out the cockpit. Delta also had pilots handing out aircraft trading cards.

See the people in the back of that photo? Well that is the edge of the area where people could stand. Many people just stayed there watching airplanes land and take off. I left at about 10:30am to head over to the Main Event, but others stuck around for longer.

Over at the park across from In-N-Out, there were already people gathered before I arrived, as usual. But there was grumbling. LAX had decided to do maintenance that day on runway 24R, the one closest to the park, for some reason. That meant we would still see arrivals, but they would be further away on runway 24L.

Fortunately, the airlines did not disappoint. Southwest deserves a special shout-out here for sending the fleet into LAX for our viewing pleasure. I’m not kidding. Southwest arranged for several special livery aircraft to come through LAX during the Main Event, and it was a parade of awesomeness. We had Florida One come in from Oakland, Lone Star One from Phoenix, California One from Denver, Nevada One from Las Vegas, and Missouri One from San Francisco. As an added bonus, Imua One came in later that afternoon from Kansas City, and we were at the Proud Bird watching it arrive.

Here’s a look at Florida One when it was departing:

The giveaway started right at noon, and we had some great stuff to give out to the 400-500 people who were there. (That’s my best guess.) People gathered all around in a circle, and here’s a look in one direction.

The giveaways included subscriptions for Flightradar24, Jettip, The Air Current, and Seats.aero. We had models from Porter, JetBlue, United, and Delta which had three die-cast A321neos in the centennial livery. They were kind enough to show off the real thing just beforehand.

There were free tickets from Avelo and JetBlue along with points from Breeze and Spirit. American put together several creative bundles with all sorts of goodies stuffed inside. Southwest handed out a gigantic Nevada One model. And then there was Alaska and Hawaiian.

Alaska and Hawaiian showed up and set up tables in the park. They had a pallet of POG juice fresh off an inbound Hawaiian flight. Not only that, but they brought a cooler from the ramp to make sure the drinks stayed cold. And yes, there were plenty of Biscoff and pretzels to go around.

As for their giveaways, Alaska not only gave one lucky winner 100,000 Atmos points, but they also gave two roundtrip tickets in premium (extra legroom coach) anywhere in the entire system. It’s a good thing that system has grown so much with this merger, because the happy winner was from Australia.

Once the raffle was over, it was time to focus more on views of the aircraft flying in and out, including this Korean B747-8 in the new livery. I still like it.

And then, just before 1pm, United had a B787-10 land from Toyko/Haneda. This might not be interesting except for the fact that this was the retirement flight for the captain onboard. How did I know that? The captain’s daughter reached out once she heard about Cranky Dorkfest and asked if I knew any photographers who might be able to take pictures. She would be on the flight with her family.

I connected her, and we had several of us wave to the airplane when it came in to land. It was a day of good vibes, and this just capped off the event in the right way.

Of course, NYCAviation had their dinner Saturday night, and I stayed around before finally getting so tired that I had to head home.

It was a really nice day, and the planning has already begun for next year. NYCAviation starts events on Friday, and since next year the regular Friday would fall on September 11, we will likely be moving this by a week. We’ll keep you posted. Just keep watching this space, because you won’t want to miss this event again.