To raise money for charity, a pilot used an aircraft to paint the largest portrait of Queen Elizabeth II in the world. Amal Larhlid paid homage to the late monarch and raised money for Hospice UK by flying a Piper PA-28 for two hours in the shape of a side profile of the queen wearing a crown.
The 411-kilometer journey, which was recorded by FlightRadar, took place on Thursday and produced a portrait that is 105 km tall and 63 km broad.
Oxford is covered by the queen’s profile, while Northampton is immediately over Northampton in the centre of her crown, which extends from Milton Keynes to Warwickshire.
On her JustGiving fundraising website, Ms. Larhlid stated that she was an inspiration to many generations due to her 70-year commitment to service. By translating a portrait of the queen into a format that could be recognized by the flight planning tool ForeFlight, Ms. Larhlid was able to plot her itinerary.
She also used landmarks to create a manual backup of the route, and she performed several practice flights to gain a feel for the necessary track and turns. She had to communicate with air traffic control the entire time because some of the flight paths placed her in restricted airspace. Despite her preparation, Ms. Larhlid was “gutted” after the weather wrecked her first try on Tuesday.
Despite 30-knot winds, the rescheduled flight took off on Thursday. Ms. Larhlid told Flightradar24 that although the challenge required her to maintain “laser focus on the track,” it was “great fun.” Due to the tight bends, she said, forming the crown had been the most difficult portion of the flight.