U.S. Navy pilot draws obscene pictures over Washington state

[Psihala]

A U.S. Navy pilot drew obscene pictures in the sky over Washington state on Thursday, CBS affiliate KREM-TV reports.

Viewers contacted the station after watching a plane draw what appeared to be crude depictions of a penis in the sky in Okanogan County, which borders Canada. The station posted pictures of the drawings on its website. (Warning: Some viewers may find the pictures offensive.)

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-navy...hington-state/

[WildaBeast]

A mother in Okanogan, Washington, told the station she was upset because she might have to explain the drawings to her kids.

Yes, drawing a penis is completely immature and inappropriate, but do we have to be saying "Oh no! Won't someone think of the children?" I don't think kids are really going to be scarred for life if they learn what a penis is.

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

Especially not the boys.

Seaboe

[Alarm]

It's a croquet mallet...

[mbravo]

Considering how many accidental schlongs I've seen kids draw by themselves, I'm sure they'd see it and interpret it as something else perfectly mundane.

[Dasla]

Originally Posted by WildaBeast

Yes, drawing a penis is completely immature and inappropriate, but do we have to be saying "Oh no! Won't someone think of the children?" I don't think kids are really going to be scarred for life if they learn what a penis is.

A few years ago, some boys from a near-bye school drew something similar on the grass at the school I was working at as an end of year prank. One staff member said when her girls asked what it was she said "What do YOU think it is"

While not exactly happy about it the general consensus at the school was "Well sometimes some boys will do something like that."

[Pinecone]

There are drawings like that spray-painted on the pavements round here. My eight year old boy was very impressed because "Look! One way up it's scissors and the other way up it's a rocket! That's cool!"

[Cervus]

A mother in Okanogan, Washington, told the station she was upset because she might have to explain the drawings to her kids.

Don't have kids if you aren't mature enough to talk about human anatomy. (I say this as someone who didn't know what a penis was until I was about 12.) But even if you are such an uptight, prudish person that you're terrified of telling your children about the existence of genitals, why wouldn't you simply tell them it's a bunch of random loopy lines? That's assuming the kids even ask! It never would have occurred to me to ask my parents to explain a figure 8 and a loop, which is all it is.

[jimmy101_again]

Originally Posted by WildaBeast

Yes, drawing a penis is completely immature and inappropriate, but do we have to be saying "Oh no! Won't someone think of the children?" I don't think kids are really going to be scarred for life if they learn what a penis is.

A highly trained air force officer operating an aircraft worth many many many millions of dollars over a populated area sure as shit better be acting in way such that it is unthinkable to even have to consider if it was immature.

The Air Force spent a zillion dollars training that pilot, but they should permanently ground him.

[ganzfeld]

It may be an expensive plane and pilot, and a stupid prank, but I don't see why it should result in him losing his job as a pilot. Flying that pattern didn't endanger anyone or have anything to do with the cost of the plane. Okanogan County is one of the least populated areas of the northwest. Their aircraft fly all kinds of arbitrary and sometimes personally relevant patterns every day as part of their activities and training. People complain about them so often that it's a running joke with them. Where to, er, draw the line, so to speak? My guess is no one will be permanently grounded. (Also, 60 million tops. Is that "many many many" millions?)

[UEL]

Indeed, ganz. Oftentimes pilots get pushed to an area to allow for some other activity at the airport. This is relatively free time. For example, as a Forward Air Controller, I would push a plane to 7 miles south of the operating area at a fixed altitude, and I would watch them do various things while waiting for their slot. And, while awaiting a chance to land in Afghanistan with my unmanned plane, we did circles in the sky trying to use our flight track to make a snowman (it was November, but we had no snow).

All told, while silly, the pilot will get a dressing down for being "that guy" who brought negative attention to the squadron. But, I highly doubt he violated any hard regulation, and if he was not drawing things in the sky, he'd be burning a hole somewhere while waiting to land or do another operation. After all, without having a scale, I suspect that the whole drawing took less than 120 seconds.

He may be grounded for optics. But won't be grounded long.

[jimmy101_again]

But that is the kind of behavior that brings into question the pilot's suitability to be flying a hundred million dollar machine, and potentially an armed one at that. Stupid decisions that don't mean much are one thing. But they are also often the only predictor of making stupid decision in a situation where it does matter.

The pilot basically gave the finger to everyone within a hundred miles.

[BoKu]

I'm actually pretty impressed with the precision of the flight track.

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

The entire crew was grounded, at least temporarily.

The Brass were Not Amused.

Seaboe

[UEL]

Originally Posted by jimmy101_again

But they are also often the only predictor of making stupid decision in a situation where it does matter.

I have to ask... where is that captured? I deal with things like this and have for most of my career. I have yet to see how a puerile choice is the only predictor for stupid decisions in situations where a rational head matters.

I'm not convinced by your statement.

[jimmy101_again]

Originally Posted by UEL

I have to ask... where is that captured? I deal with things like this and have for most of my career. I have yet to see how a puerile choice is the only predictor for stupid decisions in situations where a rational head matters.

I'm not convinced by your statement.

Did I say it was the ONLY predictor?

In your professional experience what is a good predictor of performance in a stressful and life-critical environment? And how do you discount stupid behavior in someone before they've been in a situation where decisions actually matter? How do you take into account that it is one thing to draw a dick on white-board at work but another thing to draw one in the sky that is visible to thousands of people?

In my experience, a person that makes a juvenile decision in one situation is likely to do it again in a situation where it matters. (The Turnip is an excellent example of this. He doesn't suddenly become mature and rational when the situation warrants it, he is always juvenile and irrational.) In the present case the action not only made the pilot look like a 12 year old, it made the entire air wing look juvenile. "Boys will be boys" is always a stupid defense and is especially so when the "boy" is a highly trained (at great taxpayer expense) "officer and gentleman".

[ganzfeld]

On the one hand it comes at a time when sexist jokes can't be seen as "just a joke" and the current rule should be "if you're not sure if it's sexist then it is". It also comes at a time when the services can ill afford to further degrade the morale of pilots who have had serious issues of safety and career security - and at a time when all four branches are suffering from a shortage of young, talented pilots. I don't think the public needs to get up in arms so to speak about this issue unless it turns out to be part of a larger problem. I don't think it should go unpunished but to lose a pilot or other members of such a specialised crew over this would be a waste in more ways than one.

[UEL]

Originally Posted by jimmy101_again

Did I say it was the ONLY predictor?

Yes.

But they are also often the only predictor of making stupid decision in a situation where it does matter.

So, in other words, fire everyone who makes a juvenile choice, despite whatever other decisions that they have made in life?

The guy did an idiotic thing. I have no defence for what he did. But I don't think that the millions spent training this pilot should be wasted because he did this.

My experience tells me that people who do things like this can also focus when the chips are down. Every platoon has a clown. Most clowns have made poor choices in the past. And the clowns I know are just as capable as the non-clowns for focussing.

I don't see childish drawings in the sky on the same level as sociopaths killing animals as children where a connection is established and somewhat predictable. I haven't seen evidence from anyone saying that puerile attempts at humour are indicators of poor decision making under stress either.