Benjamin McDaniel has made a Cessna’s recorded route into a digital canvas. Flying a 1978 Cessna R182 Skylane RG registered N1810R, he traces shapes, words, and recognizable artworks that become visible on flight-tracking maps. Known online as “Pilot Picasso,” McDaniel has drawn subjects ranging from a self-portrait and a world map to Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and Edvard Munch’s The Scream.
The work is distinctive because the image is made by the aircraft’s path rather than by smoke or paint. A flight-tracking display turns recorded positions into a line; when the turns and legs are…