Missing man formation

Okay kiddo, so you know how sometimes people have to leave us and go to a better place? It's sad and we miss them a lot, but we still want to remember them and honor them.

Well, a missing man formation is a way that pilots do that. Pilots are the people who fly airplanes, like the big ones you see in the sky.

When a pilot dies, other pilots will fly their airplanes in a special way to remember them. They'll all fly in a straight line, but one of them will go up higher and higher until they disappear into the sky - because that's where we think the person who passed away is now, up in the sky.

So when you see planes doing that special formation, it means they're saying goodbye to a special person who's not with us anymore. It's a way to show love and respect.