Student pilot Mathew Leydon said after plenty of sightseeing flights while building up his night flying hours, he wanted to challenge his skills and creativity. Photo / Flightradar24
Student pilot Mathew Leydon said after plenty of sightseeing flights while building up his night flying hours, he wanted to challenge his skills and creativity. Photo / Flightradar24
A student pilot has found a new way to test his skills while building up flying hours – tracing creative artwork into the Auckland night sky.
Mathew Leydon, a student at the Auckland International Pilot Academy, started by writing “hello”, then drew an aircraft, and to conform with Halloween festivities,he traced the outline of a bat last night with the word “boo”.
The finished products – with spooky accuracy – are visible to all those who watch his flights in real time on tracking map Flightradar24.
Leydon told the Herald that after doing plenty of sightseeing flights while building up his night flying hours, he wanted to challenge his skills and creativity.
“I was inspired by some other artwork I saw earlier this year that was done by another club member.”
Student pilot Mathew Leydon has caught the attention of avid flight trackers with his aerial artwork. Photo / Flightradar24
His latest creative sky art design came two hours before his flight while driving to the airport on Friday.
“I saw people trick or treating and thought I’d do my own festive aviation version.
“My first idea was a ghost, but I didn’t think it would look as good. My aim was for anyone that happened to open flight radar while I was flying to have a bit of a laugh.”
Leydon flies a basic two-seater training aircraft known as a Robin – and said it has no autopilot or fancy GPS, so has to be flown by hand.
He said he uses an electronic flight book (EFB) app on an iPad, which has aviation charts, documents and shows his location in the air.
“You can also annotate the map, so I sketch out my planned route and figure out the headings I need to fly.
“Flying it requires a fair amount of concentration, especially as it’s nighttime. I have to think about my height above the terrain, any airspace requirements, talking on the radio, watching out for other aircrafts.
“As far as flying the path that I planned goes, the wind works against you, and you have to account for it depending on its strength and direction.”
He said as far as the reception he’s received after starting the sky art, the developers of the Flightradar24 app posted an image of his recent flight, “so they liked my work”.
As for any future art, Leydon said if he can think of another creative idea, he’ll take it to the sky again.
“There’s only so many laps of the Sky Tower you can do at night before it gets repetitive, so I think there may be some other students that will give it a go.”
