747 incident at LAX
 

Hearing that a luggage bin has blown on to Runway 25R and LAX and damaged a departing 747F, rolling for departure. Both front tires blown out, but could have been worse.

N703CK to HNL ?

There must be more to this story. A quick look on Google Earth suggests an item blown from the apron would have to travel 1/3 mile, across three taxiways to make it to 25R. That's quite a blow!

Reportedly a trash bin
 

"The 747 cargo plane was taking off at about 3 a.m. from Runway 25 Right when it ran into the trash bin, which had been blown into the plane’s path by strong winds.

The bin hit the nose gear of the plane and blew out two of its tires.

Seven people were on board the plane, but none were injured. The Los Angeles Fire Department says there was no fuel leak or fire."

https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2020...windy-weather/

Very high winds from the north started yesterday evening and increased through the night. Rather unusual for SoCal but they were forecast.

Google Earth shows about 750 feet from the AA/CX cargo areas to 25R. FYI the areas between taxiways and runways are either asphalt or hardpacked dirt so there's not much rolling resistance to windblown items.

"Trash bin" or an LD one? I assume the latter.

The "trash bin" description comes from the LA Fire Department, who were on the scene:

Airport Standby ALT33 02/03/2020 INC#0160

I'd be inclined to believe them.

"Trash bin" or an LD one? I assume the latter.

Have you seen the size of some trash bins in the USA? And they're on wheels.

I've seen a luggage container bowling across the apron in a gale like a tumbleweed. Wouldn't take many seconds to cover ⅓ mile like that.

Historic LAX METARs from yesterday show winds at about , 15G25 at the time, then later 25G35 or so. Not a tornado, but obviously strong enough.

Service road is between the taxiways. It's about 0.1 miles from the service road to the centerline of runway 25R.