Covid-19 coronavirus: Pilot writes rude Covid message over Washington

The pilot the got the idea to "express how he felt" while on a pleasure flight. Photo / Supplied, FlightRadar24

Pilots have been expressing themselves and their feelings about the current crisis in flight path data.

Of all the creative messages left by pilots in the sky, this is surely the least family-friendly – but it probably sums up the global mood right now.

Flight radar has captured a 19-year-old pilot using his dad's plane to spell the words "F**k COVID-19" in skies over the US state of Maryland.

"We're just going to leave this here," Flightradar24 tweeted with the radar image last night.

Here's a censored version of the colourful display. If you really want to see the flight path in its full glory, you can do so on the FlightRadar24 Twitter page.

The message was the work of uni student Greggor Hines, who was flying a Piper Cherokee on Tuesday.

He told the Washingtonian he got the idea to "express how he felt" while he was already in the sky for the leisurely flight.

"We'd just got a new compass in the aeroplane and I just had to check it out somehow," he said.

A Boeing 767 from Icelandair has drawn a big heart over Reykjavik in Iceland, on arrival from China with medical supplieshttps://t.co/KzbjFK1Iqe pic.twitter.com/97Dlp5eynE

— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) April 19, 2020

Greggor, who has been flying since he was aged nine and has a private pilot's licence, said it took him about two hours to spell out the message that spanned about 191 nautical miles.

And his choice of phrase has won him plenty of praise on Twitter and Facebook, where it went viral after being shared by FlightRadar24.

The coronavirus pandemic has inspired a range of messages from pilots.

✈️🐰 Which Easter bunny do you prefer?

Side view: https://t.co/X7zby492xc

Front view: https://t.co/H0yKXpXOMx#HappyEaster pic.twitter.com/1ioPedWnsc

— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) April 12, 2020

Last week, an Icelandair pilot has spread a message of positivity to the country's healthcare workers by drawing a heart flight path in the sky above the capital, Reykjavik.

Over Easter, Flightradar24 shared images of flight paths that two pilots had taken over Germany, showing outlines of a bunny.

And in March, an Austrian pilot took to the sky to spell out the words "stay home" on the radar, while another pilot drew a thumbs-up sign above Hungary to express appreciation for healthcare professionals fighting COVID-19.

A reminder to everyone in coronavirus lockdown or quarantine around the world - #StayHome pic.twitter.com/Hlmhad2za8

— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) March 30, 2020