An airline pilot spelled out a naughty message in the sky: “I’m bored” while flying over the UK on a two-hour test flight.
While some might express boredom by doodling on paper or playing with their cell phones, this pilot took his message to new heights: nearly 1,100 feet (335 meters).
Airline tracking website Flightradar24 captured the message, which was created during the flight on Saturday morning local time.
Tracking data shows the Raven Air plane set out on a two-hour journey from the British city of Liverpool on the northwest coast, flying over neighboring northern towns on the Wirral peninsula and Cheshire before entering north Wales.
For about 20 minutes, the pilot weaved a cheeky confession in a clear loop over the Dee estuary, leaving an unmistakable mark in the sky.
The airline said the Piper Tomahawk was taken on a test flight by a flight instructor in his 20s after parts of the aircraft were replaced.
“I think the pilots were literally a little bored because it was just a test flight,” operations manager Wayne Barrett told the BBC. “I’ll tell you, you flew pretty well.”
Barrett said the plane’s cylinders – a key mechanism that burns fuel to generate electricity – had been replaced and a trial run was needed to ensure the plane was safe for future use.
Barrett joked that the plane proved fit for combat, but the pilot’s tricks were impressive for a pilot who claimed to be tired of the mission.
“He was a little bored, but he probably wasn’t because he had to concentrate quite a bit to spell the words at the end,” Barrett said.
But playful pilots will shrug off reprimands, Barrett said. “The plane is now safely back in the hangar and the pilot is on leave.”
CNN has reached out to Rave Air for comment.
This isn’t the first time a pilot has gone off-piste to send a message.
In 2020, just as the coronavirus pandemic sent lockdowns and safety warnings across the world, an Austrian pilot took to the skies to deliver an important message. A message read: “Stay at home.”
The reminder was also captured by Flightradar24 and occurred during a 24-minute flight just south of the capital, Vienna.
