Comments on: Staples Centre, LA

By: OwBoat

OwBoat — Sun, 10 Apr 2005 04:27:10 +0000

Wow Josh, that is a really cool link, thanks!

Jake- You can definitely see the arena from the air and read the writing. At night there is a disitct purple glow from the lights at the staples center too.

By: Jake

Jake — Sat, 09 Apr 2005 23:25:20 +0000

I guess I was thinking more of the immediate approach. Throw in that most of my flights are to points east (we usually make a left turn leaving LAX), and I guess that’s why I didn’t think of Staples Center as being in the flight path. It looks like the planes are about 5000-feet high at that point, is the writing legible at that altitude?

By: JoshWand

JoshWand — Sat, 09 Apr 2005 14:34:07 +0000

The FAA approach is actually labeled “Stadium Visual RWY 24L/R”. The flight path is ENE from the Santa Monica VOR, then a right turn at the coliseum to align with the Santa Monica Freeway, then another right turn onto final approach.

FAA approach plate for stadium visual:
http://204.108.4.16/d-tpp/0503/00237STADIUM_VIS24LR.PDF

By: OweBoat

OweBoat — Fri, 08 Apr 2005 22:52:51 +0000

Actually, the Staples Center is not only in the flight path to LAX, but it is at almost the exact point that planes make the turn back towards the coast. It’s almost like the planes tilt to get a better look at Staples. Flight from the Bay Area all make the turn, as well as other flights originating from further north. Generally, the flight path follows the coast line, heads inland a bit, makes a left turn at UCLA, flies out to downtown, makes the U-turn and comes straight into one of the four runways.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 08 Apr 2005 21:44:51 +0000

I would have to agree with the blimp theory… big games draw blimps, even if the games are inside… i’m sure when Kobe and Shaq were playing nice and the Lakers didn’t suck, blimps were commonplace (think NBA Finals) and the advertising was well worth it.

By: Jake

Jake — Fri, 08 Apr 2005 21:35:04 +0000

I don’t think it’s on any flight path, LAX is 5 miles to the south and the planes come in from almost due east. The blimp theory makes a lot more sense.

By: w

Fri, 08 Apr 2005 17:56:25 +0000

One probable reason the text is there is for blimp-based shots of the venue that show appear during sports broadcsts.