Planespotters would have been baffled to see a Ryanair flight do a loop of Bristol.
The journey taken by FR400 began just after 12pm today (Friday, May 14). when the plane took off from Bristol Airport.
After doing a quick loop of the skies over the city, the aircraft touched down again around 15 minutes later.
On its trip, the plane flew out to Portishead and Clevedon, briefly zoomed over the channel, before turning back towards the runway at Bristol Airport.
In response to the baffling flight, a Ryanair spokesman said: "This was a preservation flight (preservation flights are flown to keep both the aircraft and the flight crew current)."
According to the EASA website, like cars, aeroplanes don't like being left sitting about too long.
The site explained: "An aircraft on the ground for an extended period of time is never a good thing, not for the pilot nor for the airframe itself.
"It is generally recognised that flying an aircraft every 30 days (at the very least) is the best preventive maintenance that can be done, as it operates all the different systems, from flight controls to engine(s) and avionics."
