Boeing Tests Engines On Its 787 Dreamliner By Drawing A Giant 787 Dreamliner All Over America
A 17-hour test flight where you end up right back where you started is probably pretty boring. Any way to spice things up is probably welcome, which is likely why Boeing test pilots used their long, boring test flight to draw a massive outline of their plane all over America's beautiful face.
The sky-drawing was noticed by the air-traffic tracking site Flightradar24, who posted this tweet:
When you have to test your new @RollsRoyce engine for 17 hours, you might as well have a bit of fun. pic.twitter.com/8IrBDzomHH
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) August 3, 2017
The Boeing 787-8 aircraft plotted its selfie over 22 states, and they even managed it so that the nose of the drawn plane points to the Puget Sound area where Boeing is headquartered.
Planes drawing images with their flight paths is by no means unknown. Usually, though, it seems like it's just doodles of colossal dicks, like the United States was a middle school desk.
So, in that context, this airplane picture is high art, literally and conceptually.