Lufthansa Pilot Diverts Flight and Creates Controversy with Sky-Drawn Image

A Lufthansa pilot allegedly drew a penis-shaped flight path in the sky last week after being diverted from Catania airport on the Italian island of Sicily to Malta. The incident, which was captured by flight tracking website Flight Radar, sparked amusement and curiosity among aviation enthusiasts and social media users.

According to La Repubblica, the pilot of flight LH306, which was flying from Frankfurt, Germany, to Catania, was informed mid-air that he could not land at the Fontanarossa airport, which was seeing reduced operations following a terminal fire in July. The pilot was reportedly frustrated by the news and decided to vent his anger by flying in loops over the Sicilian coast, creating a phallic pattern on the radar map.

Link to flight log: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/DLH306/history/20230728/1155Z/EDDF/LICC

The maneuver took about 16 minutes to complete, before the pilot headed back to Sicily and then south to Malta, where he finally landed. The flight was operated by an Airbus A321 with 200 passengers on board.

Lufthansa denied that the pilot intentionally drew the penis shape and claimed that it was a coincidence caused by the need to circle over Catania before receiving instructions to divert the flight. The airline also blamed a sudden change in wind patterns for the diversion.

This is not the first time that a pilot has drawn a penis in the sky, either accidentally or deliberately. In 2023, a US Air Force pilot traced a similar shape over the Mediterranean near a Russian base in Syria. The US military said that there was no intent by the pilots or the unit to create such a shape and that it was a result of adjustments and movements in the air.

In 2017, two Navy pilots drew a massive “sky penis” with jet contrails over central Washington. The pilots were disciplined for their stunt, which they said they did because they thought it would be impressive.

Sources: AirGuide Business airguide.info, msn.com, flightaware.com, businessinsider.com, nypost.com, express.co.uk