Two Navy aviators joked about how “awesome” it would be to draw “a giant penis” in the sky with their EA-18G Growler jet before engaging in some aerial artwork that led to viral hilarity and a disciplinary inquiry into their actions.
The full conversation between the pilot and his electronic warfare officer during a 90-minute training flight over the skies of Washington state has been revealed in a transcript provided following a Freedom of Information Act by the Navy Times.
Their names were redacted in the report of the 2017 incident and the Navy also shielded the public from some words by inserting “(expletive)” into the record of the conversation. The two lieutenants were with the “Zappers” of Electronic Attack Squadron 130. Their plane was codenamed Zapper 21.
According to the transcript taken from the cockpit video recording system, the conversation began with the EWO, described by his commanding officer as “my best junior officer,” saying: “Draw a giant penis. That would be awesome.”
Warming to the idea, the pilot joked: “What did you do on your flight?” joked the pilot. “Oh, we turned dinosaurs into sky penises.”
The EWO egged him on: “You should totally try to draw a penis.”
“I could definitely draw one, that would be easy,” the pilot said. “I could basically draw a figure eight and turn around and come back. I’m gonna go down, grab some speed and hopefully get out of the contrail layer so they’re not connected to each other.”
Musing on the possible reaction to their contrail patterns, the pilot said: “Dude, that would be so funny. Airliner’s coming back on their way into Seattle, just this big (expletive)ing, giant penis.” He added: “We could almost draw a vein in the middle of it too.”
The pilot reported: “Balls are going to be a little lopsided.” Moments later, he advised: “Balls are complete. I just gotta navigate a little bit over here for the shaft.”
When the EWO asked, “Which way is the shaft going?” the pilot answered, “The shaft will go to the left. The EWO noted: “It’s gonna be a wide shaft.”
“I don’t wanna make it just like three balls,” the pilot said.
Continuing to air his concerns about anatomical correctness, the EWO urged: “Let’s do it. Oh, the head of that penis is going to be thick.”
Awed by the impact the drawing might have, the pilot suggested: “Some like Chinese weather satellite right now that’s like, ‘what the (expletive)?'”
As they completed their work, the pilot said: “To get out of this, I’m gonna go like down and to the right. And we’ll come back up over the top and try to take a look at it.”
The EWO replied: “I have a feeling the balls will have dissipated by then.” The pilot responded: “It’s possible.”
They flew off and maneuvered the plane in such a way that they could snap some pictures that they later deleted after realizing they had caused a scandal on the ground.
“Oh yes, that was (expletive) amazing,” the pilot said.
“That’s a (expletive),” the EWO told the pilot. “Dude, I’m amazed that this stayed.”
The pilot soon realized that his drawing left a larger and much more “obvious” impact than expected and attempted to “scribble it out.” The attempts were “ineffective” though.
Witnessing the phallic symbol, aghast squadron chiefs sent an alert that reached the chief of Naval operations in the Pentagon: “Aircrew maneuvered an EA-18G aircraft in a pattern that resulted in contrails depicting an obscene symbol when viewed from the ground. Media attention is expected.”
Sure enough, a mother on the ground in Okanogan noticed the obscene drawing, snapped a picture, and sent it to a local TV station.
In an apology statement to the station, the Navy said: “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.”
Citing privacy considerations, the Navy refused to state whether they had disciplined the officers.
[Previous coverage: Marines draw penis in California sky]
