Benjamin McDaniel spent 8 hours and 8 minutes flying a GTA 6-inspired picture that nobody could see by looking up at the sky. The American pilot used his plane’s GPS-recorded route to draw the game’s logo and motifs on flight-tracking maps, creating digital fan art ahead of Grand Theft Auto VI’s release.
Known online as “The Pilot Picasso,” McDaniel took off from Bentonville airport in Arkansas on November 5 in a Cessna Skylane RG. He departed at 11:29 a.m. local time and returned to the same airport at 7:37 p.m., according to reports from IGN and AirNavRadar.
This wasn’t skywriting. Each bend and turn in his preplanned route added a line to an image visible on Flightradar24’s flight map and other flight-tracking services. Alongside the GTA 6 logo, McDaniel traced an alligator, palm trees, a sports car and a woman in a bikini. A helicopter took shape above the lettering.
The alligator was one of the hardest parts to draw, requiring a particularly large number of small maneuvers. Flightradar24 highlighted the striking turns McDaniel used to form the reptile’s outline. That level of detail makes the flight an elaborate example of the increasingly creative ways fans are expressing their excitement before the game’s release.
Creating GPS artwork like this takes substantial preparation. The route must account for the aircraft’s performance, turning radius, altitude and the conditions needed for safe flight. Once airborne, the pilot has to follow it precisely: every deviation can change the finished picture on the map.
McDaniel has also used flight paths to recreate famous artwork and pop-culture subjects. His previous drawings include Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, Edvard Munch’s The Scream, Spider-Man, and imagery from the worlds of The Lord of the Rings and Skyrim.
