*The north side has a waterway and marina, and the south side has an oil refinery. Neither place where someone could set up a model rocket launcher without being seen.*
*The problem is, if this event occured at 6000 feet, the aircraft would have to be far from shore at that point. I would guess an outbound aircraft out of LAX would have to be 10 miles out/off shore, or so before reaching an altitude of 6000 feet.*
You are both wrong. I grew up there and know the area well. Between the runways and the ocean is a long, sandy hill parallel to the beach. Roads on both, beach and airport, sides of the hill. The long hill used to be covered with houses, and a Nike anti-aircraft radar site. City kicked out all the homeowners that lived under the flight path and bulldozed the houses. If you get through the fences, you have a lot of room to scurry around, only visible from the air. Would actually be a splendid place for an ambush, rightunder the climbing plane. Dunno what security LAX runs to keep people out.
As for 6000 feet, one of the newer mondo-powered airliners can climb like a scalded cat. Lifting off well before the end of the runway, I'd wager they can reach 5-6k feet not far from the beach, possibly less than 0.5 miles out.
Your on. Bet you a cup of coffee.
Geometry is not my strong point, but that would be a hell of a steep climb angle, wouldn't it?