POLICE AIR SERVICE DENIES DRAWING PENIS SHAPE OVER HAMPSHIRE

The National Police Air Service has denied deliberately drawing a penis shape in the sky, after a Hampshire resident spotted the pattern online. The helicopter circled over Fleet on Monday evening, flying low over the Ancells Farm estate for around 15 to 20 minutes. Gordon Bird, who lives on the estate, said he checked the flight path online after it woke his daughter and was "shocked" by what he found. The tracked route showed a shape resembling male genitalia above Blackbushe Airport. NPAS, which covers England and Wales, said the flight followed no predetermined route and was responding to a developing situation on the ground.

Bird said the full flight, as shown on flight radar-type websites, lasted about an hour, with the shape itself taking roughly half an hour to trace. "I'm not angry, I am upset at the waste of resources," he told the BBC. NPAS said the helicopter had been assisting officers from Thames Valley Police who were tracking a car that had failed to stop. A spokesman said flights "do not follow defined or predetermined flight plans" and respond to "unpredictable circumstances on the ground." The force said the flight "was conducted for a legitimate policing purpose, in support of Thames Valley Police."

Similar shapes have appeared on flight-tracking sites before. The RAF denied deliberately creating a similar pattern in 2021, after plane spotters shared FlightRadar24 screenshots of its pilots' routes. Finnish air force cadets were reprimanded in April after drawing phallic outlines during a training flight, facing what the force called "disciplinary" consequences. In August, a pilot flew an eight-mile formation above Clacton-on-Sea to draw a bin, a nod to Count Binface's campaign against Nigel Farage.