The movie The Wizard of Oz, a smash hit when it came out in 1939, had a scene where the wicked witch wrote SURRENDER DOROTHY OR DIE in the sky with her broom. Ever since sky writing has fascinated people. (The witch’s message was actually just special effects, produced in a 6 foot by 6 foot glass tank.) But sky writing goes back further than that. It was first tried in1922 in England. Advertisers began using skywriting at the same time but Pepsi-Cola made it famous, using skywriting from 1931 to 1953.
Are the letters really formed by smoke? Yes, skywriting smoke is made by inserting paraffin oil into the exhaust of the plane. The oil vaporizes in the heat making an environmentally friendly white smoke that lingers in the air. Of course, the pilot only injects the oil into the exhaust when he is in a position to form part of a letter.
The letters are generally a mile tall and the full message sometimes fifteen miles long. The letters can only be seen for perhaps twenty minutes before they drift to deformity so the message must be written quickly. Many factors determine the success of the mission. First the pilot must be skilled. He at times must fly upside down to get his letters formed. Second, the plane must be powerful enough. Not only does the plane need to be very maneuverable, but it must also be hot enough to vaporize sufficient paraffin oil to make the smoke. To do this 1500 degrees must be reached. Some recommend 450 horsepower engines that are six times hotter than small plane engines.
Of course for flying weather is a major factor. The sky must be nearly clear to see the white letters against the blue sky. The wind cannot exceed three to five miles per hour. The letters are therefore formed somewhere between 7000 and 17000 feet, wherever it is cool enough and windless enough. The cooler air temperature is better for making smoke, but it cannot exceed 95 degrees. When all is just right, message can normally be seen for thirty miles on either side. These perfect conditions are most predictable in September or October.
Messages are usually four to six letters long and each one takes one or two minutes to form. A shorter message is more likely to be visible at once. When a message is longer than this, then the first part may be gone by the time the last part is formed. One remedy for this is to get multiple planes involved. When two or three pilots coordinate their maneuvers, they can produce the message visible in its entirety for a few minutes before it drifts away.
Think about this: the pilot is writing from the top, parallel to the earth though the message may seem to be vertical. Therefore the pilot must write the letters backwards from above so that they appear correctly to the readers below. The letters must also be uniform and in a straight line so that the message is attractive. This requires great piloting skills.
Who would benefit from using skywriting? After all, it is so unique that people would have a hard time NOT reading the letters as them form in the sky. Some who have benefited from skywriting are advertisements for websites, political candidates, motion pictures, soft drinks, and others. It is also used for novel announcements. Fifty marriage proposals are written in the sky each year by one company.
What does all this cost? The cost depends on the company, and on the availability. For example, if you must fly in a skilled pilot from some distance, that will add significant cost to the adventure. But for local skywriting, count on starting around $1000 and look for a discount if you get more than one message or the same message multiple times.
Skywriting services are just one of the aerial advertising services AirSign provides. Learn how AirSign has been leading the industry in providing this innovative advertising method since 1996.
