My wife and I recently relocated to Manhattan Beach, CA, a few miles
south of LAX. Having flown in and out of LAX dozens of times in the
last few years, I'm familiar with the pattern for east-bound aircraft
-- take off to the west over the ocean, turn south out over the water,
parallel the beach about 10 miles, turn inland south of Long Beach and
by then at 15 or 20 thousand feet and who cares about your noise.

Monday night at 40 minutes past midnight, we were awoken by what
sounded like a 747 in military throttle right outside our window. I
half expected to see a fireball.

So what transpired? Do the heavies bend the rules after midnight when
nobody's looking?

-ted