Russia’s Pobeda Airlines has fired its flight manager Denis Petrikov, after the company was accused of violating safety measures in changing its flight path in apparent support of national team captain Artem Dzyuba.
The company’s general director Andrey Kalmykov received a severe reprimand for the incident, which attracted the attention of the Russian federal airline authority Rosaviatsiya, which was investigating the pilots’ actions.
The decision to penalize Pobeda officials was taken by the company’s board of directors on Tuesday.
On November 11, Pobeda’s plane, which was flying from Moscow to Ekaterinburg, was diverted from its standard flight path to make additional loops, creating a giant phallic sky drawing.
The move was apparently made in support of Dzyuba, who was recently embroiled in a huge scandal, after a video of him pleasuring himself was leaked online.
The pilot’s penis-shaped route attracted much public attention, with Pobeda Airlines being accused of breaching obligatory safety measures and putting its passengers at risk.