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Where to celebrate New Year's Eve in Orlando
Need New Year's Eve plans? Orlando Date Night Guide's Dani Meyering joins FOX 35 to break down some of the major New Year's Eve parties and festivals all across Orlando -- and how much they'll cost.
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.