Pilots get in the Christmas spirit with festive flight paths tracked by radar

An imaginative pilot has created his own unusual Christmas tree – in the form of a festive flight path.

The 300-mile flight path, which shows the journey of the unnamed aviator’s route across three counties, maps out the outline of a huge Christmas tree.

The flight started in Bicester, Oxon, travelling across Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire before returning to Bicester, with the route mapped by Stockholm-based firm Flightradar24 using a mix of radar and other data.

The Van’s RV-9 American two-seat, single-engine plane owned by David Gill took off at Bicester Airfield and, flew more than 300 miles in just over an hour.

Staff at Flightradar24 – a global flight tracking service that provides real-time information about thousands of aircraft – spotted the ‘drawing’, posting it on its official Twitter account.

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Another festive flight path was tweeted by Flightradar24, showing a “Merry Xmas” message mapped out by a pilot in Germany.

Flightradar24 asked its 341,000 followers which one they preferred, tweeting: “Which pilot is the best virtual painter? Christmas tree – click ‘like’. (For) Merry Xmas – click ‘retweet’, (if) Both are great – ‘like’ & ‘retweet’.”

The post was liked nearly 1,000 times and had more than 600 retweets so it looked like the Christmas tree won the competition.