Crowd Gathers to Watch Airbus Landing In Milwaukee

The Mitchell Airport Observation area was busier than normal today.

With cameras in hand, people lined the security fence during the noon hour.

Just about every parking spot was taken. It was a head turning event that attracted moms, kids and aviation enthusiasts who tracked the approach of this special visitor on their cell phones.

The massive airbus A380 landed at Mitchell International Airport.  

 "Some of the people here were tracking it," explained Greta Bartholomew. "So we knew when it was over Lake Michigan and when it was coming in. So, just seeing that little dot get bigger and bigger and bigger was really cool."  

This is the world's largest passenger jet.

"I found it really amazing how slow it seemed to be going," John Johnson told CBS 58 News. "Seemed just to hang in the air for a long long time."

It can seat up 853 people and it has a maximum flying range of more than 9500 miles.

The super jumbo jet is here to test a new engine in cold weather over the next 10 days.   

The new engine that's being tested is mounted on the A380.