Apparently a test flight of an Airbus 380 by the Emirates airline according to Spiegel Online: <a href="http://www.spiegel.de/reise/aktuell/emirates-testflug-ueber-deutschland-airbus-fliegt-einen-weihnachtsbaum-a-1183167.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.spiegel.de/reise/aktuell/emirates-testflug-ueber-...</a><p>So, yes, looks like somebody having a blast during Advent season. :-)
<a href="https://twitter.com/flightradar24/status/940959604896358400" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/flightradar24/status/940959604896358400</a><p>> <i>@Airbus is almost finished with their A380 Christmas tree. Will they put a star on top?</i>
While this seems legit, it's worth noting that ADSB, the RF message protocol used for most 'live' location stats in FlightRadar24, has no form of authentication. Nevermind the network protocol weaknesses, trolling FR24 would require little more than a $300 radio and some free software.
Screenshot of the flight shape at the moment <a href="https://i.imgur.com/oPk8XY8.png" rel="nofollow">https://i.imgur.com/oPk8XY8.png</a>
That's pretty cool, ornaments and all. Boeing flew in the shape of an airliner once <a href="http://nymag.com/selectall/2017/08/boeing-plane-flies-test-route-in-shape-of-a-plane.html" rel="nofollow">http://nymag.com/selectall/2017/08/boeing-plane-flies-test-r...</a>
Today in Sweden the military flew a couple of jets in xmas tree formation over Stockholm :)<p><a href="https://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/a/oRpj10/darfor-flog-jas-plan-i-formation-over-stockholm" rel="nofollow">https://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/a/oRpj10/darfor-flog-jas-...</a>
Speculating here, but pilots have flight hour requirements for various certifications. Maybe this is a flight that had to happen to log hours but isn’t otherwise necessary so the pilot decided to have some fun.
Reminds me of last August when a 787 drew a US-sized 787 with it's flight path over 18 hours.<p><a href="https://www.wired.com/story/boeing-787-8-drawing-test-flight/" rel="nofollow">https://www.wired.com/story/boeing-787-8-drawing-test-flight...</a>
This type of thing is popular with runners and cyclists. Search for "strava art" The hard part is finding roads that match your desired picture. Or findind a picture with the given roads. Planes have it easy.
As someone who doesn't look at flight radars often, I'm always surprised by how many planes are flying simultaneously.<p>Is there an estimation about how many more planes are possible before it gets too crowded?
Is this a joke? If not what would be the point of this, seriously? Reminds me of drones writing the name of a Pharmaceutical product into the blue sky of Toronto, a few years back.