Lufthansa 747-8

*(C) Christina Saull – All Rights Reserved*

On Friday, I was one of the lucky few chosen to head out to Washington Dulles International Airport to greet the arrival of the inagural flight of Lufthansa’s 747-8. As you’ll see from the photos below, this is one amazing aircraft! With a length of 250′, she’s the longest passenger jet in the skies today. The wing span is just massive – 225′ – or roughly the width of about two & a half airport gates.

Lufthansa flight 416 flew from Frankfurt, Germany to Washington, D.C. with around 380 passengers seated in a three-class configuration (unlike in previous versions of the 747, First Class rides in the nose of the plane, rather than upstairs). One of the coolest parts of the plane are the absolutelymassive GE Aviation engines – unless you’re on the ground standing next to them, it’s hard to believe something this big gets off the ground.We headed out to the runway in one of Dulles’ famed mobile lounges, watched the plane land & then raced back to the terminal to see the water cannon salute. A huge thank to you to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority & Lufthansa for the once in a lifetime experience!

You can see my complete album of photos here.