Dimitri Neonakis wanted to show his support for the Toronto Blue Jays, so he drew the team’s logo through his plane’s flight path over parts of Nova Scotia.
“Oh, well, I love the Blue Jays. Been a fan since 1993, since the early 90s, the Joe Carter era,” Neonakis, 63, told CTV News Toronto on Wednesday. “I’m not a fanatic fan, I love the Blue Jays, I’m a Canadian, and I support a Canadian team.”
Departing from Halifax Standard International Airport at around 11:30 a.m. local time, Neonakis flew his Cirrus SR22 aircraft northeast to recreate the team’s icon.
The pilot of 27 years said it was a challenge to draw the logo, sharing how he sketched it first before inputting it onto an aviation app that helps plot his flight path.
“Then I get up in the air, and I have an iPad on my knee that is a moving app. On that iPad, I have my position, which is shown like a little blue airplane,” Neonakis explained. “So long as I keep that little airplane over the lines, then the drawing is going to come out like that.”
All he had to do then was follow that little blue airplane along and, in about two-and-a-half hours, Neonakis outlined the Jays logo, putting a new meaning to “it’s a bird, it’s a plane.”
While this particular flight caught the attention of Flightradar24, which tracks flight paths, Neonakis has sketched other drawings and messages in the past with his aircraft.
He said he first started in 2020, following the mass shootings in Portapique, N.S., where he flew around in the shape of a heart.
I am happy to see that this little flight path brought some comfort and a ray of sunshine to so many people, in this...
Posted by Dimitri Neonakis on Tuesday, April 21, 2020
“Unable to help out, I thought I’d reach out from the air and drew a heart over Portapique, sort of to tell people that we’re all in this together,” Neonakis said.
The Halifax resident shares he has drawn dozens of images in the sky since then, sometimes using it as an opportunity to show support for his community, for sporting events, and around the holidays.
As for the Jays, Neonakis says he will be watching Game 3, when Canada’s baseball team will take on the Mariners at T-Mobile Park.
“They’re gonna win, they’re gonna win tonight, we’re positive,” Neonakis said.
The first pitch will be thrown at 8:08 p.m. EST. Fans can follow along here for live updates.
