Has anyone else seen something like the attached? I have never seen it before and assume it is indicating some type of VIP, but what info is this based on? This is a US military aircraft, but I saw the same thing for a Swedish Air Force Gulfstream a few days ago. The timing suggested to me it was involved transporting the Swedish King from the funeral of the Norwegian King.
Yes, I have seen that also. Don’t know the significance of it.
So I think I have tracked down the story. It is a one-off icon designed for a special livery Southwest Airlines Max 8 in honor of America’s 250 celebrations. What is not clear is why this icon seems to also be randomly attached to other planes. No doubt our friend AI is hard at work here.
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The Finnish Air Force also gets the Stars&Stripes treatment. For an icon that is supposed to allow tracking of a single specific plane it sure does get thrown around a lot. The only logic I can see so far is that some, but not all, military aircraft of NATO countries can get tagged with this icon.
I’ve been noticing my local military helicopters carrying that icon after I click on their info & was searching everywhere for an explanation. Those helicopters show a regular helicopter icon until then. Private ones stay the same. If it’s showing up on non-US aircraft you’re probably right & it’s now just being used for all “special” flights since the Southwest event ended 9/9/26.