A Coast Guard MH-60T Jayhawk was in a festive mood over the weekend, issuing a holly jolly “Ho-ho-ho” in the skies. As spotted by the Flightradar24 flight tracking site and shared on its X account, the Coast Guard helicopter was flying over the Caribbean Sea just off of the coast of Puerto Rico and decided to write out a holiday message. It flew in a few loops and sharp turns to spell out Santa Claus’s go-to exclamation.
The Coast Guard confirmed it was intentional, and happened while the aircrew on the MH-60 Jayhawk had some VIPs on board and some time to kill on Sunday morning.
According to Flightradar24, the helicopter, registered as C6038, took off from Arecibo, Puerto Rico, heading towards Coast Guard Air Station Borinquen near Aguadilla, on the northwestern side of the island. The aircrew was ferrying Santa Claus and an elf, or at least people dressed like the holiday favorites, to an event in Aguadilla.
“While waiting for final instructions to deliver Santa and his elf to the event, the aircrew flew a Ho Ho, Ho holding pattern in the festive spirit of the occasion,” the Coast Guard said in a statement to Task & Purpose.
These helicopters are used by the Coast Guard in Puerto Rico for a number of roles, such as law enforcement purposes, but are primarily devoted to search and rescue operations in the waters off of the island.
“Every year during the holiday period, our crews reflect on the year’s work and value taking a moment to share their mission and achievements by celebrating the joys of holidays with their children, families and the Agudailla community in Puerto Rico,” the Coast Guard said.
And although it’s common to hear Santa Claus bellow out a boisterous and hearty “ho-ho-ho” laugh it’s not something commonly spelled out in the sky, and especially not with a military helicopter. It’s not clear if the Coast Guard or “Santa” were the ones to come up with the idea, but we salute the aircrew for pulling it off.
Pilots of different military aircraft have a history of getting creative with their flight paths. They can and often draw or “write” messages with their aircraft, only really visible to people specifically watching the flight patterns. The drawings are often silly messages or a “hang loose” shaka for some good-nature fun. Every so often though pilots get more R-rated and vulgar. Phallic drawings are not uncommon, sometimes left as insults, sometimes drawn in great detail to the ire of Coast Guard officials.
This, however, was not that. No Grinches to be found here, or a sleigh, just Santa in a Jayhawk helicopter.
