‘It’s a bird, it’s a plane’ took on a whole new meaning for a Toronto Blue Jays fan in Nova Scotia on Wednesday.
Dimitri Neonakis drew the team’s logo in his flight path in his Cirrus SR22 aircraft as a way to show support for the team as they continue to battle in the MLB playoffs in the American League Championship Series against the Seattle Mariners.
The pilot posted a drawing of the flight path on his Instagram account with the caption “Let’s go Blue Jays.”
“Oh, well, I love the Blue Jays. Been a fan since 1993, since the early 90s, the Joe Carter era,” Neonakis 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.”
The flight took just under two-and-a-half hours, and the drawing – which caught the attention of Flightradar24, a website that tracks flight paths – was shockingly accurate for someone flying without the help of autopilot.
Neonakis explained how he was able to complete the drawing: “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,” he said. “So long as I keep that little airplane over the lines, then the drawing is going to come out like that.”
The 63-year-old pilot is a bit of a local legend in and around Halifax, and gained notoriety the first time he drew with his flight path by drawing a heart in the aftermath of the mass shootings in Portapique, N.S.
“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.
Whether the Blue Jays players were aware of the message being sent or not, it seemed to have provided some support – Toronto walloped the Mariners 13-4 in Game 3 to cut the series deficit to 2-1.
Game 4 goes again from Seattle on Thursday night.