Summary

• In recent years, pilots have created impressive and elaborate drawings in the skies using flight paths, such as the famous tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth II, which also raised money for charity.
• Major airlines have drawn images to bid farewell to retiring aircraft models like El Al with their Boeing 747 and Qantas with their kangaroo logo.
• Sky art has also been used on test flights like Boeing's ETOPS testing of the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engine. These intricate designs require careful planning and precise flight paths.

Nearly 100,000 aircraft take to the skies every day, with the majority having the objective of transporting people or goods from point A to B as quickly as possible, and the crew usually follows a simple flight path. In this article, we will examine some of the most impressive pictures drawn using flight paths when pilots are allowed to get creative.

5 Tribute to Her Majesty The Queen

In October 2022, Pilot Amal Larhlid paid tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth II by tracing the largest portrait of Her Majesty in the British skies. The portrait was also an effort to raise money for Hospice UK. It was 65 mi (105km) tall and 39 mi (63 km) wide and took 2 hours to construct.

Amal went through a lot of practice and planning before climbing on her Piper PA-28 to come up with this elaborate illustration of The Queen. She said she converted a portrait into a format accepted by the flight planning program ForeFlight.

4 Tribute to the Queen of the Skies

In November 2019, Israel's flag carrier El Al said goodbye to its Boeing 747 with a special tribute ahead of its retirement from the airline's fleet after 48 years. Over the Mediterranean Sea, flight LY1747 descended to about 10,000 ft and began outlining the quadjet. The drawing took 1 hour 45 minutes and covered a distance of 29,950 square kilometers.

In July 2020, Australia's flag carrier Qantas did something similar with its last remaining 747, which had served the airline for 50 years. On a flight from Sydney to the US, Flight QF7474 drew an outline of Qantas' iconic kangaroo logo over the Tasman Sea. This was not the last time the 747 received a special tribute.

One of the most iconic tributes to the Queen of the Skies came earlier this year when Atlas Air flew home the last production, 747, marking the end of an era. Following an honorary ceremony at Boeing Everett Factory, the quadjet took to the skies heading for Cincinnati. Before reaching its destination, the aircraft descended to about 12,775 ft and drew a crown with the number "747."

After flying for 2 hours and 35 minutes, the crew completed the iconic outline, 94 mi (152 km) wide and 59 mi (96 km) tall. The flight plan for this elaborate scheme included 39 separate waypoints and will be remembered by aviators worldwide for years to come.

3 Flight N7874

In August 2017, Boeing used a 787 to draw an outline of the aircraft over the contiguous United States during ETOPS testing of the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engine, which powers the aircraft.

At 15:38 local time, flight N7874 departed Boeing Field in Seattle and flew for 18 hours over 22 states at an average of 39,000 ft to create the elaborate sky art. With a perimeter of 9,905 mi, the Dreamliner's wings stretched from Michigan to Texas, with its tail in Alabama and its nose pointing to its home airport in Washington State.

2 Airbus' Christmas tree

From creative liveries to special amenity kits, airlines always go the extra mile to get passengers into the Christmas spirit. Over the years, some pilots have made some impressive Christmas-themed drawings in the skies to celebrate the festive holidays.

On December 13, 2017, Airbus drew a giant Christmas tree over Germany with the A380 during a pre-delivery test flight for Emirates. The crew flew for about five hours in German airspace before completing their test flights over Denmark. The tree stretched from Hamburg in the North to Stuttgart in the South.

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1 Tribute to the USA

On July 3, 2023, the pilot of a Piper PA-28 spelled out the letters "USA" and drew an aircraft in the West Coast, probably as part of the Independence Day celebrations. The letters were bordered by an outline of a map of the Contiguous US, and from our judgment, it was a pretty impressive drawing.

Other impressive drawings you may recall include the syringe drawn by a German pilot to remind people about the COVID-19 vaccine, the wheelchair drawn by a disabled pilot over British skies, and the largest map of India drawn over the US to celebrate India's Republic Day. Similarly, some pilots have also traced large images deemed "funny" or "inappropriate" by the public.

What do you think of this interesting sky art? If you have ever participated in making these drawings, please let us know in the comments!

Source: FlightRadar24.com