A pilot in his 20s flying a two-seat Piper Tomahawk test aircraft spelled out "I'm bored" in the sky over northwest England on July 11, 2026. The flight began from Liverpool at about 11:25 a.m. local time and lasted two hours, covering the Wirral Peninsula, Cheshire, and North Wales near the Dee Estuary [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7].
The aircraft was operated by Ravenair and undergoing a routine test flight following an engine cylinder replacement. The pilot, a flying instructor currently on leave, flew at about 1100 feet (335 meters) altitude and 185 km/h (100 knots) speed while creating the message [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7].
To form the letters, the pilot spent roughly 20 minutes executing precise maneuvers. Operations Manager Wayne Barrett said, "I think the pilot was literally a bit bored as it was just a test flight. Mind you, it was pretty skillful flying. He was a bit bored, but he probably had to concentrate a lot in the end to spell out the words" [3]. Barrett added the pilot had to focus fully, meaning he "probably wasn't bored at all, but rather quite busy" while flying so precisely [2].
The spelling appeared on the flight tracking site Flightradar24 and quickly went viral on social media as a unique form of skywriting without smoke [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]. Flight tracking enthusiast Aaron Rheins said he had "never seen a pilot write in the sky as a way to express boredom," calling the precision impressive [5]. Travel expert Gary Leff called it "an amusing way to express this" that requires skill and suggests the pilot was focused, not distracted [3].
Ravenair confirmed no disciplinary action would be taken since the flight was safe and necessary. The aircraft returned safely to the hangar in the afternoon, and both aircraft and pilot were confirmed unharmed [1, 2, 4, 5, 6].
