Pilot writes ‘stay home’ in the sky using flight path

Aircraft left the message in Austrian airspace

The flight path left an important message (Flight Aware)

A pilot used their flight path for a very specific message, writing the words “stay home” in the sky.

The sentiment can be seen by using a flight tracking site, which shows planes’ exact routes.

They left the message while flying a Diamond DA40 single-engine aircraft over Austrian airspace.

Taking off from Weiner Neustadt in Austria on 23 March, they touched down 24 minutes later in Graz.

Austria currently has more than 3,800 confirmed coronavirus cases and 16 deaths.

It comes as governments across Europe are increasingly telling citizens to stay indoors to help stop the spread of Covid-19.

Spain and France have both gone into lock-down mode, while this weekend Boris Johnson implored Britons to save lives by better observing social distancing rules and staying at home wherever possible.

The UK government has additionally updated its advice to ban all non-essential travel within the UK, telling residents to stay in their primary residence rather than go on holiday or visit second homes.

It’s not the first time a pilot has used their flight path to draw something in the sky, although previous examples have carried a less serious message.

In November 2019, a Boeing 747 pilot “drew” an incredible picture in the sky to mark the aircraft’s final journey.

The plane had served Israeli airline El Al for 48 years before making one last special retirement flight from Rome in Italy to Tel Aviv.

The captain at the helm of “Queen of the Skies” made the trip more memorable by altering the flight path so that it resembled the silhouette of a Boeing aircraft while flying over the Mediterranean Sea.

Meanwhile, a Lufthansa flight path earlier this month created a shape that resembled a penis when the aircraft was forced to circle above the airport upon arrival.

The image can be seen on FlightRadar24, a site that tracks commercial flights all over the world.

It shared a snap of the rude-looking flight path on social media, tweeting it alongside the caption: “LH350 landed on second landing attempt” with a crying-with-laughter emoji.

It is not known whether the outline was intentionally provocative or not.