Marine Pilot Draws Penis In The Sky, USMC Opens Investigation

The U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) was investigating an incident where inappropriate flight pattern images of human genitals were made by a pilot over the Salton Sea, reports said Tuesday.

“We’ve opened an investigation that is underway as we speak,” Maj. Josef Patterson, a spokesman for 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, said. “More to follow soon.”

The Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Miramar 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing said in a statement a Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 101 pilot was flying a T-34C on Tuesday morning when the image was captured, a report in NBC San Diego said.

“A T-34C aircraft assigned to Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 101, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, flew an irregular flight pattern over the Salton Sea that resembled a phallic image. An investigation to uncover the facts and circumstances surrounding the incident is ongoing. The aircrew's chain of command are committed to maintaining an environment of professionalism, dignity and respect. The Marines and Sailors of 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing will perform at the highest levels expected of professional warfighters, and uphold our core values of honor, courage and commitment,” the full statement read according to a report in Task & Purpose.

"Obscene or inappropriate actions, flight or not, do not reflect the core values we hold as marines," Patterson said.

The USMC will determine if any disciplinary action should be taken at the conclusion of the investigation, he added.

The pilot flew the aircraft in the shape of a “phallic image,” which was spotted by a Twitter user who went by the name “Aircraft Spots.” At first, they said the aircraft belonged to the Navy, but soon clarified the error in a second post.

The post was shared with two pictures which highlighted the flight path taken by the plane. The pilot seemed to have made two attempts to draw the penis. He or she tried to erase the first one and drew a bigger one over the Salton Sea.

The pictures quickly became viral on social media, and many commented on it. An air warfare reporter for Defense News, Valerie Insinna, pointed out the interesting positioning of the image.

“We need to talk about how this pilot first practiced making a sky" d*ck, "decided it wasn't good enough, and then created the Mona Lisa of sky penises on top of a lake that also looks like a penis,” she said in a Twitter post.

The name of the pilot of the T-34C Turbo Mentor trainer, a plane that is usually used for bombing range spotting and clearing duties these days, was not revealed. Reports said it was unclear whether there were other aviators inside the aircraft at the time of the incident.

It is to be noted that people on the ground would have never noticed the image as the aircraft did not leave behind a contrail. It could only be noticed by online flight tracking software’s, which lets users view live flight patterns.

Last year, in December, a similar incident happened in Okanogan County, Wash. The contrails of a Navy aircraft could be seen from the ground. It was in the shape of a penis. The Navy issued an apology for the incident and the pilots who were involved in the incident were reprimanded.