A pilot spent eight hours in the air to draw GTA 6 over Arkansas

An Arkansas pilot has drawn the GTA VI logo in the sky with his plane's flight path: eight hours and eight minutes in the air on November 5, which on FlightRadar24 trace the logo, a helicopter, palm trees, a woman in a bikini, a sports car and an alligator. His name is Benjamin McDaniel, he goes by The Pilot Picasso, and this isn't his first sky painting. Here's how he pulled it off, what the drawing shows and why his flight became the most-tracked in the world.

What exactly did he draw?

An illustration that could pass for the game's cover art, traced in one continuous line. In the middle sits the Grand Theft Auto VI logo, rounded letters and the big VI underneath. On the left, two palm trees; above, a helicopter stretching across the top; on the right, a woman in sunglasses and a bikini, posed like Rockstar's own artwork; and at the bottom, a sports car and the real star of the show: an alligator filling the whole corner.

On the map, this is no doodle: it covers a big chunk of Madison County, southeast of Bentonville, swallowing towns like Hindsville, Huntsville and Kingston. The alligator isn't a random choice either. It's Leonida's signature animal, the one in the trailers, in the Series X stuffed inside an alligator that Xbox is giving away and even in the new Grassrivers screenshots.

How do you draw with a plane?

By flying very, very precisely. McDaniel doesn't use smoke like old-school skywriters: the drawing is the trail his plane leaves on flight-tracking sites, which log its position every few seconds via the transponder. Plan the route well, fly it well, and by the end the whole track forms the picture.

As Flying magazine explained in October, each drawing is planned on the ground for a long time and then hand-flown, solo and under visual flight rules, in one go: there's no second take. The FlightRadar24 screenshot shows the conditions: the plane was cruising at around 1,725 ft (about 525 m) and 64 knots (roughly 74 mph), squawking 1200, the transponder code US pilots use when flying VFR without talking to air traffic control.

Why did it go viral?

Because people could watch it live. The flight's card on FlightRadar24 listed N1810R as the world's number 1 at the time, with 4,479 people tracking it at once, which is a lot for a 48-year-old light aircraft looping over rural Arkansas. Once he landed, FlightRadar24 itself celebrated on X:

Flightradar24@flightradar24

The turns to make the alligator were the most fun to watch. Well done @thepilotpicasso. flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/…

When we checked it on November 6, the post had 3,513 likes and more than 150,000 views. IGN covered it the same day. Neither the pilot nor FlightRadar24 mention any deal with Rockstar: by all signs, this is a fan tribute from a guy with his own plane.

Who is The Pilot Picasso?

Benjamin Glasgow McDaniel III, a pilot from Bentonville whose X bio reads "pilot and artist" and comes with a warning: look up, you might see the next one. According to Flying, he does it to log hours and stay sharp, and also to send messages: a pink ribbon for breast cancer awareness or a "You Are Loved" for suicide prevention.

Before GTA 6 he had already flown the Mona Lisa in October and Munch's The Scream, plus nods to The Lord of the Rings, Skyrim and Spider-Man. Next up, per IGN, are a classical piece and a Thanksgiving one. And with one firm rule, in his own words: "Safety first. If bad weather rolls in, I push the flight to another day or another week."

It's not the first time GTA 6 has taken to the skies, mind you: in Miami, Rockstar already sent a blimp and banner planes over the beach. The difference is that this time there's no campaign behind it, just a guy with a Cessna and a lot of patience.