NYPD pilots flew spy plane in shape of male genitalia to get back at supervisor: report

A group of five New York Police Department pilots reportedly flew a $4 million, federally funded spy plane on a route shaped like male genitalia because they were angry at their supervisor. 

The New York Post reported on Tuesday that Inspector James Coan, head of the Aviation Unit, learned about the lewd pattern from employees who were overseeing the department’s flight-tracking software. 

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Coan then alerted the NYPD and the pilots were disciplined after a department hearing, according to the Post. The newspaper noted that two of the pilots were dismissed from their unit. 

The move to draw the airborne artwork resulted from a feud between the pilots and Coan, according to the Post. The pilots and Coan were reportedly in a dispute over whether the single-engine Cessna plane was safe to fly over open water. 

In July 2017, the Post reported that pilots were told to fly at low altitudes over open water 25 miles offshore. This order was directed so pilots could scan ships for radiological weapons. 

But a source told the Post that the pilots warned Coan that “if that prop [propeller plane] goes, it’s over. You’re going to crash into the ocean.”

They also contended that the low-altitude flight would also leave them out of radar and radio range, the Post reported. 

The pilots’ anger reportedly intensified in March after Coan mandated that they make the runs more frequently. They then decided to fly the protest route. 

The Post notes that in May the NYPD agreed to stop the offshore counterterror missions until it met with the union representing pilots. They reported that the meeting has yet to take place. 

The move from the NYPD pilots comes months after U.S. Navy officials acknowledged that one of its aircraft was used in the drawing of male genitalia in the sky over a county in Washington state.