I’d consider myself to be a fairly casual aviation enthusiast, so naturally I love the Flightradar24 app.

The real-time radar tracking of all manner of flights is rich in detail and often quite fascinating. It’s a handy resource if you’re collecting someone from the airport as you know exactly where their flight is. Other times it is just weird, like this odd flight I noticed on New Year’s Eve.

The app often shows flights that have minimal flight data, like the one below. I’m sure there’s an explanation for this, perhaps someone can explain it to me in the comments.

But what really interested me is that this flight seemed to originate from a random point in the ocean. Somewhere between Australia and New Zealand this flight just appeared out of nowhere! The red circle indicates where the flight path seems to have begun.

Again, there’s probably an obvious (and therefore boring) explanation, but at face value it appears pretty weird.

Also, for those with their mind in the gutter, the flight path resembles a poorly-drawn dick and balls. The pilot was apparently a fifteen year old boy. Go on, look again. Now you can’t un-see it!

So let us give thanks to Flightradar24. Always informative and entertaining!

And if anyone can explain these flight path shenanigans please let me know. I just assume pilots do this on purpose because they think it’s funny. Which it is.