At least four military planes from the Finnish Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps took advantage of a flight training session to deviate from their usual route and drew two giant images of male genitalia in the sky, adding two hearts for good measure. Their flight paths were fully recorded by Flightradar, and screenshots quickly spread on social media.
The New York Post cited the Finnish newspaper Iltalehti, reporting that around 7:30 a.m. on April 13th, four Finnish Air Force reserve officers engaged in a prank during a routine training session in Jyväskylä, about 274 kilometers from the capital Helsinki.
The Finnish Air Force has confirmed to the media that these flight missions were carried out by cadets of the Flight Reserve Officer Course, all four of whom have been promptly disciplined.
The Finnish Air Force emphasized that all of these flights took place within designated training airspace and did not affect regular flight operations. They have also launched a formal investigation.
In fact, military aircraft sky 'graffiti' is nothing new. In 2017, a US Navy EA-18G Growler used its condensation trails to draw an enormous penis in the sky over Washington State, with the pilot even boasting, “I can definitely draw this, it's easy.”
In 2022, a US Air Force pilot drew a male genitalia image in the sky over the waters between Cyprus and Lebanon, but the military insisted it was purely accidental. In 2023, a Maltese military helicopter also left a suspicious flight path over the island of Comino.