Returning from the DECA ICDC
Southwest Airlines
LAX - MCI
Preface
I am taking a trip to the DECA ICDC (International Career Development Conference) which took place in Anaheim, California! DECA is an organization of high school marketing students, and I personally feel it is the best organization in the world! I have learned so much from it, and it has had a pretty large impact on my life!
Anyways, I was attending this conference because I placed at the DECA State Competition. My group and I placed 1st place in the state, in an event titled "International Business Plan". It required us to put together a 30 page business plan over a business of our choosing. We decided to make a unique insurance company, and we spent a ton of time working on this plan. We were extremely happy to make it to the DECA International Competition.
I will talk more about DECA and my time in Anaheim in a post following this report. I will also divide the post into 2 sections: Terminal spotting & Takeoff, and in-flight and landing. The reason for this is, JP.Net only lets me put 100 pictures in each post! I took around 600 pictures at the airport, and I picked my favorites!
Going to the airport
I woke up at around 5:30 am, for a 4:45 pm departure! I wanted to get up and walk around Anaheim, so I can enjoy the last of my time there! California is awesome, and I can't wait until I return there again!
The drive to the airport seemed really short, here are some pictures.
on the highway
driving by Knott's Berry Farm
Arriving at the Airport
We were at the airport around 1:40 for a 4:45 departure. Checking in took around 5 minutes, and I was happy that it wasn't ridiculously busy! I was expecting maybe about an hour wait! And security was easy also!
Driving past the cargo area
Almost near the terminals
The LAX sign!
Terminal 1
A WN jet!
A bunch of traffic near the Southwest drop-off area
People using checking in outside
Inside LAX, right before going through security.
The gate my flight would push out of (4B), this isn't my flight. I got into the terminal around 2, and my flight was at 4:45, so I had a lot of time for terminal spotting!!!
A couple WN jets
An Air New Zealand 747-400 being pushed! This jet is HUGE!
And as it was departing, another AZ 744 came in!
An Air France 777
Now it was time for more terminal spotting!
A WN 737-700 with some buildings in the background.
A flight that was getting ready to depart for SFO
I then decided to go to the end of the terminal to do some spotting there!
Sorry that some of these pictures are kind of dark. I don't like using auto mode on my camera, and I like doing everything manually. I underestimated my exposure compensation, and they turned out dark. But I guess they are still good...
I count 5 Southwest Airlines jets in this one picture! (The 2 wings, and the 3 taxiing)
An Emirates 777 landing! I tried to get a picture when it flew over my head, but my camera wasn't turning on! But it was an awesome sight!
A TACA Airbus, with a WN 737 taking off!
This is definitely LAX! MCI is never this busy!
I see a Virgin Atlantic A340, an American Eagle Embraer, and an American 757!
And 5 seconds after the A340 turned off the runway, this 737 comes in!
The 757
The really long A340!
This is my first time seeing one in person, and it was just amazing how long it was!
An EVA Air 777
Of course the WN tail had to get into this picture
An Asiana 777, and the WN tail HAD to get into the picture again!
and again!
The WN tail got in the way when I tried to get pictures of aircraft I don't usually see, but it moved away when I got this picture of a Southwest 737 landing. (as if I have never seen a SWA aircraft before!)
Virgin America's "Air Colbert" taxiing by the terminal!
Mexicana
The two Airbus aircraft together!
About to takeoff!
A WN jet!
Air Canada Embraer aircraft
The Colleen Barrett "Heroine of the Heart" aircraft!!!!
I tried to get a good picture of a landing SWA aircraft, and with my luck, the only picture where the aircraft was not blurred, had this happen to it!
I walked to Starbucks and was gone for 15 seconds, and when I got back to the window, I saw this!
I am kicking myself! I really wanted a better picture of an Air Pacific aircraft! (one of my parents is from Fiji, which is why I love Air Pacific so much)
A plane sitting at the gate at LAX
After it was pushed from the gate
Two WN tails
The gate area, with the boarding poles
30 seconds after the previous jet departed, another aircraft came in! I was completely shocked at how busy LAX is!
An AA 762...and of course a WN tail had to get in the picture!
I don't know why, but I like this picture
of course the WN jet had to somehow get in the picture!
I tried to get a picture of the mountains in the background near LAX, when this 747 came in and messed up my picture! lol, jk!
I was happy to finally get a good picture without a WN jet getting in the way!
The AF 777 being pushed
an Air Canada airbus
HP Airbus
Taxiing to the runway
Colleen's jet and the Air France 777
Another pic of a WN jet!
N382SW, which I flew in Dec. from Kansas to Oakland!
a view inside Terminal 1 at LAX. It is surprisingly a lot smaller than I thought it would be! It is shocking how many passengers it can handle! I thought it would be bigger, because it looked a lot bigger on the TV show!
Oh, I looked for a couple of people from the show! Essentially all of them moved to different stations! So I was kind of sad, but I was happpy to be at LAX.
An HP A319 staring at me.
I saw this, and I couldn't believe what I was seeing! I have never seen a passenger aircraft do this before! So was this a passenger flight, or a cargo flight? I saw it pull up to the jetway...
but I have never seen a plane that was half cargo and half passenger before. I still think this was pretty cool!
About to go onto the runway
An AA MadDog coming in for landing!
Skywest Embraer 120
Boarding
Pretty soon my aircraft taxied in, and we began boarding. I checked in EXACTLY 24 hours before the flight, and I got A30, which I guess was pretty good!
The gate area
my aircraft (N642WN)
I boarded the aircraft, and found my way to my favorite seat! (21A)
Another WN Aircraft
I looked out the other side of my aircraft, and saw this bird!
The AZ Cardinals logo jet!
Note the mismatched winglet
Taxi and Takeoff
The flight was 100% full, and I was kind of surprised at how many people wanted to go from CA to KS on a Sunday evening! Most of the people were business people though, most likely people working for Sprint|Nextel or Garmin, because those companies are based in Kansas City.
There were a few DECA people on my flight. We sat next to somebody who is also in FBLA, and he is Kansas's FBLA District 6 VP, so I guess that was cool...
Here is a video of the pushback, safety announcements, engine startup.
Taxiing out
HP AZ Cardinals logo jet again
An AF 777 and VS A340
yay Southwest! I swear that in my 2 hours at LAX, I saw ALL 500 of Southwest's aircraft!
Taxiing
This was my first time I got to experience waiting in a line for takeoff! There was a Mexicana Airbus, an American Eagle Embraer, and a Southwest coming into land
Since the flight was 100% full, our takeoff was very powerful!!!
Here is a video of the takeoff
A view of the beach after takeoff!
Looking back at Los Angeles
The beach
The coast
Looking back again
Beginning a turn
The ocean looking pretty calm...I miss California!
Flying over LAX
I am surprised at how crowded everything is! It is nothing like Kansas!
The flight crew did an excellent job with this flight! They took care of all 137 passengers with great professionalism and respect. They also demonstrated the three Southwest qualities really well (Servant's heart, Warrior Spirit, Fun-LUVing attitude) I am surprised that on every Southwest flight they are able to provide a consistent level of amazing service! Every Southwest cabin crew member I have encountered has demonstrated all three qualities really well!
This flight had 2 drink services, and 1 snack service. The snack service consisted of a variety of Nabisco products, and Southwest's awesome honey roasted peanuts!
The flight was extremely turbulent, but I'm not complaining! It was kind of fun and relaxing for me. It was somewhat strong turbulence, so they had to stop the drink/snack service a couple times throughout the flight.
Here are some pictures from the flight!
Climbing
Clouds + hills
Entire wing
Hills
I'm still kind of mad about not using the proper exposure compensation with my camera! it made some of my pictures a little bit too dark, and I won't have much time to do editing for about another 3 weeks!
A WN winglet!
About to enter some clouds
In the clouds
Exiting the clouds
Re-entering the clouds...we played this game most of the flight!
Some interesting clouds
An interesting ground formation
more clouds. yay!
Winglet shot
The sun was beginning to set, and it was starting to get dark...this did not stop my love of aviation and photography!
The end of the wing + where the winglet begins
Cloud + winglet
Clouds during the sunset
There is nothing more relaxing than seeing the sunset from 30,000 feet! It is an awesome sight! I wish I was sitting on the other side of the aircraft, so I could have gotten a better view. But I was still happy with my seat.
Flying at night is also pretty fun and relaxing, as it provides the opportunity to see all the lights of the cities go by. But night also means photography is a lot harder, but I was up to the challenge!
Starting to use slower shutter speeds...
Approach/Landing
This flight was unfortunately coming to an end, which meant I had to return to the world of doing actual work, and preparing for tests and finals! The approach and landing were pretty routine and smooth. We came in from the south onto runway 1L, which is where I always land at MCI.
All of the rest of the pictures were taken with 4" shutter speeds (the longest my camera will allow) with ISO's of 64,100, and 200.
I love the effect of the lights in this photo!
This is probably my favorite photo from the approach
You can tell that the flaps are down
Our landing was kind of hard, and I felt that we touched down a little bit later than what I am used to. The brakes and thrust reversers were used heavily during the landing, and we turned off near the end of 1L.
Here is a video of the landing.
Here are some pictures from the taxi. The taxi was kind of fast/bumpy which is why the winglet isn't in focus.
Pulling into gate 38.
I realized how "not-fun" sitting in the back of the plane is, when the load factor is 100%! I usually have load factors of 50-60% whenever I fly, and when I sit in the back I'm usually of in like 3 minutes, but this took a while! lol
In the meantime, I took a pic of the safety card!
Finally!
A blurred picture of some WN seats
The flight deck
This was another awesome WN flight
Southwest is definitely the best airline in the US! They provide a better and more consistent level of service! While they may not have the top IFE system, or an equivalent to UA's Channel 9, they are still amazing! I have always enjoyed talking to Southwest Airlines employees, and they all seem to truly love doing what they do, and that makes them really fun to talk to!
I hope I have the opportunity to fly Southwest again really soon!!!
the gate area
inside MCI's terminal B
the baggage claim
the outside of the terminal
Thank you for reading my report! Comments are definitely appreciated! and I will try to respond to questions as fast as I can!
I will post a report about DECA below this post, whenever I get the time!
DECA was the entire reason why I was going to California in the first place.
As you read above, DECA is an organization of high school students who are studying marketing, management and entrepreneurship.
We came to Anaheim, CA for the International Career Development Conference, which is the national competition for DECA. It was very tough, and we unfortunately did not place in the top three .
While we didn't place in the top three, I do feel that coming to Anaheim was very beneficial. I was able to make a ton of connections, and make a lot of friends from other states and countries. I became good friends with a lot of people from Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and North Carolina!
I definitely can't wait to return to next years ICDC, which will be in Louisville, KY! (then after that it will be in ORLANDO, FL; and then Salt Lake City, UT!)
The Anaheim Convention Center, where the conference took place
The national officer team giving speeches
The awards for people who placed in the top 3
At the conference, there were many different companies who were exhibiting, trying to advertise and get people to work for them. There were also a ton of universities and colleges there too.
I bet all of you can probably guess my favorite booth that was there...the SOUTHWEST AIRLINES booth!!!!!!
It was awesome! They gave away free peanuts! I got a ton of them, and they are awesome!!!
The people there were also really nice! The lady pictured was one of the people I talked to the most, she was really nice. We talked about the industry, and she told me her stories about meeting Herb and Colleen, and working for Southwest. I talked with her whenever I had free time at the convention center!
also, here are a couple more pictures from California.
The view from the hotel room...Disney's California Adventure, with Disneyland behind it (not visible in the picture). But it was awesome, as both parks were within walking distance from the hotel!
California Adventure
Disneyland
Splash Mountain.
The Castle
Items I received.
While in Anaheim, I got a ton of items! From Southwest Airlines (what I usually collect), the exhibitors at the conference (I got things like t-shirts, hats, pens, lanyards and stuff for free!), and other states (we traded pins with other states/countries)
Here are some pictures of the airline items and pins!
Two different copies of Spirit (the left is May, and the right is April), A US Airways thing I got from one of their podiums, a WN flight schedule, a WN ticket jacket, a couple of bags of peanuts, a heart shaped stick, a set of wings, and a cocktail napkin.
Some of the pins I traded while in California. (the top 3 rows all light up!)
Amazing flight review, Jaspreet! Thank you for the taking the time to put it up. Very nice photos, many are JP.net database worthy imo, and plenty of details about the flights and your DECA convention in LA. Very, very nice night shots. Keep up the good work, do you have anymore trips planned over summer?
__________________ "And suddenly I realized that I was no longer driving the car consciously. I was driving it by a kind of instinct, only I was in a different dimension."Senna, Ayrton.
Awesome Trip report Jasprett! I really like the pictures and the sun set ones are the best for me. BTW what type of camera are you using?
Quote:
Originally Posted by jazzyspreetsingh
I saw this, and I couldn't believe what I was seeing! I have never seen a passenger aircraft do this before! So was this a passenger flight, or a cargo flight? I saw it pull up to the jetway...
I am not sure with KLM's schedule's so I may not be right, but they use these aircraft as Freighters that can carry passengers. I believe that they go around to various destinations when there are big items to be shipped that can't be placed in the holds below the passengers and when there isn't enough cargo to send a cargo plane. (I am pretty sure that most cargo planes with KLM have a schedule to where they fly though.
On another note my sister also went to this conference in the same category as you. She did her proposal on ways to cut down on obesity rates in Canada. She did have to change her report slightly to relate more to America. She was from the DECA Ontario Chapter from Canada.
Congratulations on making it as far as you did at DECA, it is quite hard to do.
aw I was in DECA in high school.. I miss it! and my college doesn't have delta epsilon chi. I went to ICDC 2 years ago in Orlando and last year in Atlanta...good times!
Good report!
__________________
UNITED-You're not just flying, you're flying the friendly skies.
Returning from the ICDC--Tons of pics!
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