The patterns attracted attention on the Flightradar tracking service last week, around the time of a training exercise in the skies near Jyväskylä.
A training exercise involving Finnish Air Force cadet pilots has raised eyebrows after aircraft flight patterns, visible on the Flightradar tracking service, appeared to form crude shapes in the sky.
Tabloid Iltalehti reported last week that the incident took place on Monday 13 April, when students from the Air Force reserve officer pilot course were carrying out training flights.
Flight data shows several aircrafts taking off from Tikkakoski in Jyväskylä at around 7.30am. The subsequent radar images indicate that at least four of the flights went on routes that resembled the shape of a penis.
The Air Force confirmed to IL at the time that the pilots involved were students on the reserve officer course, adding that the cadets would be subject to “disciplinary” consequences.
In an email to Yle on Monday, a spokesperson for the Air Force said the purpose of the flights was to practise turns within an assigned training area.
“The aircraft remained in the training area assigned to the flight mission and performed the exercises given in the flight mission assignment. The aircraft did not deviate from their route,” the email said.
The spokesperson added further that the flights did not pose any danger to other air traffic.
Yle understands that the Air Force has launched an investigation into the incident, but the force’s spokesperson was unwilling to comment further on the sanctions the cadets may face.
“The Air Force requires soldiers to follow good manners and rules of conduct, and if these are deviated from, it will be responded to in an appropriate manner,” the statement said.
