Florida pilot spreads holiday cheer with Christmas tree-shaped flight route

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PUNTA GORDA, Fla. - Santa Claus wasn't the only one soaring through the skies delivering holiday spirit on Christmas Eve.

One Florida pilot took it upon themselves to fly a plane in the shape of a Christmas tree in Southwest Florida, according to flight data from FlightAware. The plane, which took off Punta Gorda Airport on Sunday afternoon, followed a route that is shaped just like a three-tiered Christmas tree topped with a 5-prong star.

Jacob Faulkner, who's training to become a professional pilot, told FOX 35 he's always looking for places to go and things to do in his airplane.

"So I was off work for Christmas Eve and I decided why not just go fly a Christmas tree for something fun," he said. "So I went up and started up north and just started flying waypoint by waypoint. It actually turned out better than expected. Using today’s technology, things like this are fairly simple – it is just going out and doing it."

Screenshot of FlightAware.com

The single-engine plane was in the air for just over an hour and 40 minutes and reached a peak altitude of 4,700 feet before landing back at Punta Gorda Airport, flight records show.