(Backdated post - occurred 9/28 - it's now 10/16 and I never posted this to LJ)
I went out the docks Friday morning with one of our new scientific aides, who's still being checked off; while heading to San Pedro, he mentioned, "Mostly just squid's coming in - we'll probably be back before the Shuttle flyby at 11:00." He pointed out the Queen Mary as we passed, and remarked that she was supposed to be one of the flyover points. Sure enough, we collected our squid and were heading back to the office by 8:30. I checked the LA Times website and noted she was also supposed to fly along the beach in Huntington Beach (where I live) as well, on the way to Long Beach and to LAX.
Drove home to get the big camera, called runsamuck to see if he wanted to go along, collected him and went down to the beach, about a mile away from home. Very hazy and warm - runsamuck was a bit cranky from the heat and tired from working graveyard. Lots of people already there waiting, consulting phones calling people in the flyway, checking progress of the shuttle. Someone told us they thought it’d be an hour - she was supposed to fly over Disneyland, then head to the coast and fly north along the beach, back to Long Beach and the Queen Mary, thence to LAX.
Hundreds of people along beach and lining the pier
After a good long while, finally we heard shouts of “I hear it!” but the noise was coming from behind us. We looked the opposite direction and just barely caught sight of her and the fighter escorts between a few of the houses across the street.
Original shot...
Zoomed in from the original shot..
Extreme zoom...
There was a lot of babble around us, one guy had some binoculars and swore he’d seen them turn south over the ocean and they were coming back around again, but after waiting another 10 minutes or so, it was obvious it was not so. Apparently they’d felt they were running behind and cut short the southerly leg, opting to fly straight from Dismalland, over the Boeing (formerly McDonnell-Douglas) plant in the north part of HB, across the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station to the Seal Beach Boeing plant (which used to be Rockwell International when my dad worked there), Long Beach and LAX.
Ah well. Do I get one of those “I Tried” stickers?
Gareth and Avalon's school a few blocks away let everyone out onto the lawn in hopes of seeing Endeavour, but unfortunately, the planes all flew behind some trees. G. was extremely disappointed.
Angus however, was lucky. The Shuttle flew right over his high school. This video, apparently by one of the teachers there, was taken right outside his classrooms!
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