Local news outlets are reporting that pilots from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island—the home of the Navy’s fleet of EA-18G Growlers, as well as larger maritime patrol aircraft—drew a massive male genitalia in the sky with their contrails.
The phallic sky art occurred near the town of Omak, which is located in north-central Washington, on the western edge of the Colville Indian Reservation. The area lays under the expansive Okanagan Military Operating Area (MOA). This restricted airspace is used regularly by Growler crews from NAS Whidbey Island and by other military pilots visiting the area for training purposes.
KREM 2 (more pictures at the link), a local CBS affiliate out of Spokane, said a local mother took pictures of the wind-borne wiener and complained to the station that it was inappropriate and that she doesn’t want to have to explain it to her children. The good folks over at KREM 2 News inquired about the racy sky art with the Navy, and got the following response:
“The Navy holds its aircrew to the highest standards and we find this absolutely unacceptable, of zero training value and we are holding the crew accountable.”
The FAA told the station that there was nothing they could do unless there was a safety risk and that they “couldn’t police morality.”
It’s not like this type of controversy hasn’t happened before, but I sure wouldn’t want to be taken out of an EA-18G Growler cockpit and put into a C-130 cockpit “hauling rubber dog shit out of Hong Kong” for this unique aerial display of self expression.
I guess we can just chalk this up to what has already been a season of “stranger things” occurring in the skies over the Pacific Northwest.
Contact the author: Tyler@thedrive.com