LGB - Spot1
Long Beach Airport – Spotting Guide
- last modified on November 30, 2023
Long Beach Airport is the fifth busiest airport with commercial pax traffic within the Los Angeles region and welcomed 3.6 Mio. passengers in 2019. The airport was until 2006 a plant for Boeing (formerly McDonell Douglas) with assembly lines for types like the DC-10, MD-11, MD90, C-17 and 717. Just a maintenance line for the C-17 survived.
LGB was used to be a focus city for JetBlue before they moved all operations to LAX in November 2020. Southwest is now the biggest player at LGB besides, Delta, American and Hawaiian. The only cargo operator is UPS with flights to Louisville. General Aviation and Business flights are responisble for the vast majority of the movements. Here is based the Catalina Flying Boat, an airline with a couple of Caravans that’s makes cargo flights from here to Catalina Island, you might find them parked near the road on the western part of the hangars (you can zoom on the map and find them).
Written by Tombarelli Federico and Jan Seba. Last Update: January 2021
| Rating | |
| Movements |  |
| Airline Variety |  |
| Photo Locations | |
| Weather |  |
| Airport Information | |
| Runways | |
| 12/30 | 3.048 m (10.000 ft) Asphalt |
| 08L/26R | 1.887 m (6.192 ft) Asphalt |
| 08R/26L | 1.194 m (3.918 ft) Asphalt |
| Terminals | |
| North Concourse | American, Hawaiian |
| South Concourse | Southwest, Delta |
| Airport Chart |  |
| Spotting Information | |
| Ladder | At both locations a ladder or rooftop of a car is needed. We recommend latter. If you use a ladder for a longer period please call the Long Beach Airport Public Affairs office which can be reached M-F 7:30-4:30 PST at (562) 570-2678. |
| Car/Public Transport | Absolutely needed. |
| Restrooms | Nothing directly at the locations but there are plenty of hotels and restaurants around the loctions. |
| Drinks/Food | Plenty of fast food restaurants are not far from the spots. |
| Hotels | Both, the Long Beach Marriott and the Holiday Inn Long Beach Airport offering nice views of runway 30 arrivals from their rooms. |
| Season | Try to avoid the hot summer days. |
| Runway Usage | |
| 12/30 | Major runway for all pax, cargo and business jets flights. 90% of the time 30 is active. |
| 08L/26R | Only used by small props. |
| 08R/26L | Only used by small props. |
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Spot #1 – Parking Lot – 30 line up and arrivals |
|---|---|
| WHERE | This location is inside the wide parking lot behind the Vanguard Logistics. It’s extremely easy to reach, just follow Clark Ave, turn into Airport Plaza Dr and instantly turn left into the parkings between the buildings. Here just reach the fence and choose the better angle you desire. |
| WHAT | Line-ups are just perfect, sadly the arrivals are quite high. What’s parked to your same side of the airport will taxi on the closer taxiway, the other coming from the West side will taxi on the further but still line-up good in front of you (Cessna/Gulfstream below). |
| TIME | Sunrise to 9-10am |
| MISC. | You MUST have a car (better if pick-up style to climb better) or a ladder. In the Maps images you will see an elevated parking; on top of it there is a wall and you still need something to get over it. A lot of employees parked near us and no one cared about what we were doing, anyway keep low profile, clean and be polite, you are in some industries property. Food and restrooms all around you in Clark Ave. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | A321N = 90mm; Cessna = 300mm; Landing A320 = 120mm |
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Spot #2 – Office Complex – 30 arrivals and departures |
|---|---|
| WHERE | This location is on the opposite side of #1, at the parking lot of a huge office complex. Access is from the Kilroy Airport Way. Once entered just drive till the perimeter fence at the easternmost corner of the office parking and find your prefered postion along the fence. We recommend to use the rooftop of your car to clear the fence or a ladder. If you plan a longer stay please call Long Beach Airport Public Affairs office wich can be reached M-F 7:30-4:30 PST at (562) 570-2678. Shooting through the mesh will be tricky as the planes moving fast. |
| WHAT | All arrivals and departures on runway 30 as well as movement on the two taxiways, the closer one mainly with GA traffic. |
| TIME | From afternoon until sunset all year long. |
| MISC. | It is a well know location for local spotters and people who just wanna watch the traffic from there. We have no reports about security checks. |
| FOCAL LENGTH | Arrivals: 763 = 50mm; CRJ = 100mm Taxiway: A320 = 150mm |
There is now an ‘official’ viewing area at LGB. It is located approximately at 33 deg 48 min 36.60 sec N, 118 deg 08 min 46.79 min W. Details can be found by searching for ‘plane spotting long beach airport observation deck’ and they are located on the City of Long Beach website. To find it, go between buildings 3880 and 3900 on Kilroy Airport Way and head for the NW corner of the very large car park. It is in the area of spot #2. The fence is of relatively fine mesh and I think that photographs through the fence would be difficult. I didn’t try as it was pouring with rain when I was there. Photography should be possible further back from and over the fence. Facilities are pretty minimal – just a few bleachers to sit on but there is shade.
Can you spot from parking garage B if your mainly after the helis?
Hey I wonder how high the roof needs to be. A honda CRV is alright or I need a pickup truck
FedEx no longer flies in Long Beach.. they pulled out late last 2021:
https://lbpost.com/news/fedex-to-give-up-only-lgb-flight-slot-after-more-than-30-years
I live in Signal Hill just across the freeway from LGB, Hilltop Park affords a view of the entire runway, terminal and landing path. Binoculars needed.