Pilot Benjamin McDaniel Etches Mona Lisa Across Oklahoma Skies

Benjamin McDaniel, a pilot nicknamed the Pilot Picasso, has traced a likeness of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa into the sky above Oklahoma using his aircraft's flight path. The da Vinci portrait joins a body of large-scale aerial drawings that includes a world map and a tribute to "The Lord of the Rings." McDaniel's method relies on flying a precisely plotted route so that the plane's trajectory, tracked from the ground, resolves into a recognizable image. The Mona Lisa design ranks among his most elaborate efforts to date, following the earlier map and Tolkien-themed pieces. Details of the flight's timing, the aircraft used and the exact location of the drawing were not specified in the source material.