A Ravenair flying instructor drew the words "I'm bored" across the sky during a routine maintenance test flight over north-west England on Saturday.
The pilot, a flight instructor in his 20s, spent roughly 20 minutes tracing the message at about 335 metres altitude and under 100 knots over the Dee estuary between Talacre and Greenfield. The aircraft had departed Liverpool around mid-morning BST and returned to Merseyside after approximately two hours, routing over the Wirral, Cheshire and north Wales.
Operation manager Wayne Barrett confirmed the sortie was a test flight conducted after a cylinder component was replaced on the aircraft. Barrett acknowledged the phrase-tracing route was unauthorised but said the pilot would face no disciplinary action.