Photo: RadarBox
It must be fun for aircraft pilots to use their gigantic machines to draw stuff in the sky, and it’s probably even more fun when you’re traveling with a bunch of kids and what you’re trying to draw is a bird.
This is exactly what happened on Saturday, when Air New Zealand used a Boeing 787-9 specifically to draw a kiwi, the national bird of New Zealand, in the sky.
And while it all sounds like a waste of time and resources, well, it was not. The whole thing was part of a charity flight operated for Koru Care, an organization working together with Air New Zealand and whose purpose is to support children with disabilities.
So what the two companies did was board some 50 kids on a Boeing 787, take off from Christchurch, spend 2 hours and 41 minutes in the air, and during this whole time, try to draw a kiwi in the sky. Flight data shared by RadarBox shows the whole thing was successful, with the flight NZ4376 eventually returning to the airport after an epic experience.
Air New Zealand CEO Greg Foran said the whole purpose of this idea was to give kids who never had the chance to board an airplane the opportunity to discover how the whole thing feels on their own.
“Today’s flight is a real heart warmer. Some of these children have never been on a plane before, so we wanted them to experience the excitement of flying and our teams have pulled out all the stops to make today a magical experience for our Little Heroes,” he said.
Needless to say, Air New Zealand isn’t the first airline that comes up with the idea of drawing something in the sky. Previously, Virgin Atlantic drew a heart on Valentine’s Day, while Qantas used a Boeing 747 to sketch a kangaroo in the sky before retiring this aircraft.
And while it all sounds like a waste of time and resources, well, it was not. The whole thing was part of a charity flight operated for Koru Care, an organization working together with Air New Zealand and whose purpose is to support children with disabilities.
So what the two companies did was board some 50 kids on a Boeing 787, take off from Christchurch, spend 2 hours and 41 minutes in the air, and during this whole time, try to draw a kiwi in the sky. Flight data shared by RadarBox shows the whole thing was successful, with the flight NZ4376 eventually returning to the airport after an epic experience.
Air New Zealand CEO Greg Foran said the whole purpose of this idea was to give kids who never had the chance to board an airplane the opportunity to discover how the whole thing feels on their own.
“Today’s flight is a real heart warmer. Some of these children have never been on a plane before, so we wanted them to experience the excitement of flying and our teams have pulled out all the stops to make today a magical experience for our Little Heroes,” he said.
Needless to say, Air New Zealand isn’t the first airline that comes up with the idea of drawing something in the sky. Previously, Virgin Atlantic drew a heart on Valentine’s Day, while Qantas used a Boeing 747 to sketch a kangaroo in the sky before retiring this aircraft.
Air New Zealand performed a special flight with 50 Koru Care kids onboard in a 2 hour and 41-minute flight over New Zealand. ??????????
— RadarBox (@RadarBox24) May 15, 2021
During a two-hour flight, the Boeing 787 drew a giant Kiwi over New Zealand skies. ??#NZ4376 flight data: https://t.co/zmjaveLRfM pic.twitter.com/5P8kcs0LfP
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