Jet creates a penis-shaped flight pattern while being diverted 'by accident'

01 August 2023 , 07:56

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Jet creates a penis-shaped flight pattern while being diverted 'by accident'

A plane that was diverted from an airport has left an obscene flight pattern in the sky to the amusement of some aviation watchers.

A Lufthansa plane left a penis-shaped form that was drawn in the sky over Sicily after the pilot was told to go to Malta instead of Catania. The outline was picked up on the aviation tracking website Flightradar24.

It led to local reports that it was a deliberate stunt by the pilot to show his annoyance at having to head to a different airport although officials have said it was just coincidence.

The aircraft was forced to divert from Fontanarossa airport due to general disruption following a fire at its Terminal A block on July 16. The pilot of flight LH306 who was heading to the southern Italian island from Frankfurt is believed to have made two attempts to land at the airport in Catania before being told to head to Malta instead.

The outline that was left in the sky by the plane (@lastampa.it)

The plane then headed east and made the phallic shape that was more than 24 kilometres long and took more than 16 minutes to complete. After the outline was made, the plane then continued on its route to Malta and landed around half an hour later.

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But while there has been plenty of speculation over whether it was deliberate, the airport and Lufthansa have said that the outline was due to the attempts to land the plane. A spokeswoman for Lufthansa told Corriere della Sera: “Due to ‘wind shear’ it was not possible to land safely in Catania and for this reason the pilot had to remain in a holding position before once again trying to land which was not successful.

A military helicopter previously created a penis-shaped flight pattern over Malta

"Then it has flown to Malta where it has refuelled and finally approached Catania from a different direction.” And it is not the first time that there has been debate whether pilots have deliberately made phallic symbols in the sky.

Last January a Maltese military helicopter left a similar outline over Comino, Sicily, with elaborate loops, reported the Times of Malta. But on that occasion the Maltese military claimed that the image was taken out of context and did not show the full flight path.

Tim Hanlon