AUBURN— A Lufthansa 747 is scheduled to make a low pass over the Twin Cities Wednesday morning, an honor for a retiring aircraft.
Rick Lanman, manager at the Auburn-Lewiston Municipal Airport, said the plane was scheduled to fly out of Bangor at 10:10 a.m. and pass over Auburn on its way south.
“All I can tell you is, we are expecting it before 11 a.m.,” Lanman said.
A flyover means the plane can fly as close as 50 feet above the Auburn airport’s runway.
“And that close to the ground, a 747 flying over an area that’s only used to having Cessna 172, it’s going to make a big impression,” Lanman said. “People are going to notice.”
Lanman said the plane is being retired from service on Lufthansa’s European routes. It’s being flown to one of two North American storage areas.
“It can either be sold or used for parts after that,” Lanman said.
It’s the second time the company has flown a retiring aircraft over Auburn. A 747 was retired in a similar manner in 2012 as a show of respect and corporate goodwill to the coworkers on the ground, working to rebuild historic Constellation aircraft housed at the airport.
The local group is working to rebuild the World War II era Lockheed Super Constellation.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
