Ahh, Valentine’s Day! Love was in the air for this very special holiday when a Virgin Atlantic plane flew a heart-shaped route. The flight was reportedly a test flight with only crew members and no passengers, and it happened to be Valentine’s Day—so it seemed like the perfect time for a pilot to test his capabilities by flying in the shape of a heart. How adorable!
According to the FlightRadar Twitter account, people were able to follow along with the action live as the flight took place on the afternoon of Feb. 14 just outside of Cornwall, England:
❤️ ✈️ @VirginAtlantic is drawing a giant heart in the sky to celebrate #ValentinesDay2018 ✈️ ❤️
Follow live at https://t.co/g2xxOPgLRK pic.twitter.com/k8PgCkstZP
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) February 14, 2018
And if you didn’t get the chance to follow along with the action, you can see the path the plane flew in a replay online:
When you conduct a training flight in your recently delivered A330 on #ValentinesDay you draw a heart. That's the rule, right?
See playback of @VirginAtlantic’s ❤️at https://t.co/em1gPzhr22 pic.twitter.com/yJSZtrsRxv
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) February 14, 2018
Virgin Atlantic also tweeted about the flight using #LoveIsInTheAirBus. So cute!
Happy Valentine's day! In case you missed it, here's our Airbus on it's heart-shaped training flight earlier today! #LoveisintheAirbus #ValentinesDay 📽️: https://t.co/2aXGiKF7Dm pic.twitter.com/GwIKehh2OS
— virginatlantic (@VirginAtlantic) February 14, 2018
According to NBC, Cpt. JJ Burrows, the director of Aircraft Operations for Virgin Atlantic, said in a statement that the airline was hoping to “have a little fun” given the date for this flight.
People on Twitter can’t help but comment about how much they loved this Valentine’s-themed flight. Like Twitter user @manj82:
I just “love” this
— Karishma_T (@manj82) February 14, 2018
Twitter user @richardbranson wrote that the gesture was “beautiful”:
Beautiful
— Richard Branson (@richardbranson) February 14, 2018
Ian Waite, the husband of the pilot responsible for flying the plane couldn’t help but gush about the sweet deed online. “So what did your husband do for Valentine’s Day? Well he flew an airplane in a heart shape off the coast of Cornwall,” he wrote:
So what did your husband do for you for Valentine’s Day? Well he flew an airplane ✈️ in a heart shape off the coast of Cornwall ❤️ https://t.co/iWJ1A2Ag2v
— Ian Waite (@ianwaite) February 14, 2018
His pilot husband, Drew Waite, wrote, “A very different day at work!! It was brilliant to do!”
A very different day at work!! It was brilliant to do! https://t.co/7yBxh6tmdW
— Drew Waite (@DrewM89) February 14, 2018
A special day “at the office” indeed!
This isn’t the first time an airline’s done something incredibly touching. Southwest Airlines flew to Puerto Rico and came back with 62 dogs and cats after Hurricane Maria. The animals were taken to a shelter and put up for adoption:
And they are HERE! 60+ rescue dogs and cats have arrived safe in DC thanks to Lucky Dog and the amazing folks at @SouthwestAir. We are on our way to @dogmabakery where these dogs and cats will meet their foster and forever families! #IAmLuckyDog #SatoPride #SouthwestHeart pic.twitter.com/oOfZt0RvTK
— Lucky Dog (@DCLuckyDog) January 20, 2018
Now, if that’s not heart-warming, we don’t know what is!
Little things like flights full of puppies and hearts being drawn in the sky give us a reason to feel the love on Valentine’s Day. As far as we’re concerned, people can keep the sweet gestures (and desserts) coming!