Bizarre footage has left social media users baffled after it shows a spanking ritual that pilots go through when they finish their training.
Yep, you read that right. The strange practice reportedly happens in Colombia, although there are other places where the tradition is also carried out.
The clips, which can viewed here, surfaced online and show new pilots bending over before getting a smack on the butt with a wooden paddle.
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The ritual is done by both men and women who become newly qualified pilots, although it’s not exactly clear where it originates from… or why!
Shocked viewers of the footage took to social media to share their thoughts, one user writing on X, formerly Twitter: “I think they training for the wrong thing lol.”
Another person added on Reddit: “This seems....different.”
However, not everyone was shocked, as another Reddit user, who said to be a member of the Gliding Flight Club in Hungary, explained: “We had a very similar thing when someone flew alone for their first time or obtained a specific aircraft licence.
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“But we received/gave it with hands, not paddles. Another interesting thing to add here is that not only our primary instructor did this to us, but also those pilots who were there on the day and had already passed that ‘level’ or licence.
.webp)
“So if you were ‘unlucky’, you potentially had 15 other people slapping your bum [one] after another (some gentle, some not so much).....”
Other pilots shared their experience with spanking on the Professional Pilots Rumor Network forum, where they addressed certain traditions.
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One pilot wrote: “When I first soloed in a glider ... it was common practise to get a spanking from your instuctor [sic] - as a compensation for making him suffer by having to watch your flying.
“This was followed in the evening by a mass spanking from all pilots and non-pilots in the clubhouse, the purpose of which was to improve your ‘seat of the pants flying skills’ by giving you a feel for thermals.”
Another agreed, writing: “I saw something similar at a gliding club I flew at in Germany (mid 90's). After the first solo the pilot was spanked by everyone, but only after the instructor had poured cold water down the back of his pants.”
Though the tradition probably isn’t one that would start nowadays, other viewers online have been more accepting of the practice, with one noting: “I think if everyone was consenting adults it doesn’t matter what I think.”