Pilots reprimanded for drawing penis shapes in the sky

Finnish air force cadet pilots have been reprimanded for drawing penises in the sky with their flight patterns.

Students on the pilot reserve officer course flew two Grob G 115 training aircraft from Jyväskylä on April 13 during an exercise to practise turning.

But analysis of their route on Flightradar showed a number of unusual manoeuvres, resembling phallic shapes.

The students, who were on a training programme at the Tikkakoski air force academy, would face “disciplinary” consequences, the Finnish air force confirmed.

While it was unclear what punishment the pilots would face, an air force spokesman said: “The air force requires soldiers to follow good manners and rules of conduct, and if these are deviated from, it will be responded to in an appropriate manner.”

The spokesman also told Finnish news outlet Yle that the aircraft did not deviate from their route, stayed within the assigned flight path and performed the exercises given in the flight mission assignment.

The flights did not impose any danger to other air traffic, the spokesman said, as they launched an investigation.

The Pilot Reserve Office Course is an annual competitive programme that combines basic flight training with flight theory lessons on military aviation.

The Grob G 115 E, a propeller aircraft, is used as the primary flight trainer for basic training, navigation, instrument and aerobatic flights.

It is also in service with the Royal Navy, Army Air Corps and Royal Air Force for pilot training.

This is not the first time that pilots have amused themselves in the cockpit by creating crude drawings with their flight paths.

In October 2021, two RAF pilots also created a graphic image in the sky, drawing a 40-mile penis between Lincolnshire and North Wales.

The RAF claimed that the outline created by the two flight paths was entirely coincidental, and said at the time: “RAF pilots do not have time to waste when completing operational training missions.”

Russian airline Pobeda also drew a similar outline in November 2020 between Vnukovo and Koltsovo.

The crew was allegedly attempting to show solidarity with Artem Dzyuba, the Russian football captain, by altering the scheduled flight path.

The Finnish air force was until recently associated with an altogether different type of offensive symbol.

Last year, the Nordic nation removed the swastika from the flags of its air force because of “awkward situations with foreign visitors”.

Finland adopted the swastika as its air force symbol in 1918, years before Germany’s Nazi Party chose it as its emblem.