Michael Jones, a 70-year-old pilot from London, Ontario, recently traced a massive maple leaf in the sky, covering 426 km in a flight that was both a display of Canadian pride and a response to U.S. President Trump’s tariff threats and remarks about Canada becoming the 51st state.

Flying his two-seater Grob G 115, Jones mapped out the enormous maple leaf over southwestern Ontario in a carefully planned 2-hour, 3-minute flight. The symbol represents Canadian identity and a quiet but firm stand against challenges to the country’s sovereignty.

Taking off and landing at London International Airport, Jones flew a 426-kilometre path and created a perfect maple leaf in the sky. Jones has been a humble pilot since 1977 and usually spends more time flying planes than showing off the Canadian flag, but the recent events stirred his patriotism.

Michael Jones sketched a rough maple leaf on a paper map of Southwestern Ontario and then used GPS software to map a precise flight path with coordinates. Jones achieved the perfect maple leaf by following every point exactly to avoid a distorted design. He flew the entire route manually, without autopilot, ensuring his sky-high tribute was picture-perfect. Since his flight, thousands of people have viewed his flight route on FlightRadar24.