An investigation into the activities of two Navy pilots has revealed exactly how they drew a penis in the Washington skyline.
Back in November of 2017, a US Navy pilot in Washington State caught plenty of attention when drawing male genitalia using his plane as a pen. However, the pilot also caught significant heat from his superiors as well, with a statement from Whidbey Island naval station saying as much: "We find this absolutely unacceptable, of zero training value and we are holding the crew accountable."
This is the moment eyewitnesses saw the Pilots' handiwork over Washington:Now, 18 months after that incident, an investigation has finally revealed what happened that fateful day. Reportedly the work of two 'Zappers' from Electronic Attack Squadron 130, these two young pilots had some time to kill, and had noticed their jet contrails were a little thicker than usual.
But an investigation report obtained by the Navy Times says that the two pilots were not counting on the trails lingering long enough for their superiors (as well as many others) to notice.
They weren't the only ones, either; local station KREM 2 broke the news when a woman took photos of the sky penis, with KREM 2 reporting she was concerned for her son.
"A mother who lives in Okanogan who took pictures of the drawings reached out to KREM 2 to complain about the images, saying she was upset she might have to explain to her young children what the drawings were."
This led to an official squadron dispatch confirming that a penis had been drawn in the sky: "Aircrew maneuvered an EA-18G aircraft in a pattern that resulted in contrails depicting an obscene symbol when viewed from the ground. Media attention is expected."
It all occurred during a routine 90-minute flight when one of the pilots involved suggested drawing the image in the sky. "My initial reaction was no, bad," the pilot wrote in a statement, "but for some reason still unknown to me, I eventually decided to do it."
"I could definitely draw one, that would be easy," the pilot then boasted.
"I could basically draw a figure eight and turn around and come back. I’m gonna go down, grab some speed and hopefully get out of the contrail layer so they’re not connected to each other. Dude, that would be so funny. Airliner’s coming back on their way into Seattle, just this big f***ing, giant penis. We could almost draw a vein in the middle of it too."
"Balls are going to be a little lopsided," reported the pilot, before adding: "Balls are complete. I just gotta navigate a little bit over here for the shaft."
But once the drawing had been completed, the pilots immediately felt remorse for what they had done - flying over the image in an attempt to 'scribble' it out, but this was to no avail. They immediately confessed and apologised to executive officer (XO) at Whidbey Island, who was furious with the pilots.
But, since this prank occurred after their training was complete and they had had no disciplinary incidents prior to this, the investigator recommended no punishment further than "non-punitive letters of instruction".
"While the sky writing conducted by [the lieutenants] was crude, immature, and unprofessional, it was not premeditated or planned and not in keeping with their character demonstrated prior to the incident."
Meanwhile, the XO defended the pilots involved, saying that they were "fine officers and capable aviators" and that they'd learn from their moment of immaturity. "They 100 percent need to be held accountable, but if they are allowed to continue in naval aviation this is not a mistake they will repeat," he wrote.
