Claim:   Video clip shows an airplane making a safe landing after losing a wing.

Status:   False.

Example:   [Collected via e-mail, November 2008]

Could not find any reference to this clip on your website - Just find it difficult to believe that it is authentic .

Origins:   All signs point to this video clip of an airplane's safe landing on the ground after losing a wing as being a digitally manipulated viral video for the German clothing company killathrill. The pilot shown in the clip appears to be James Andersson, whose web touts him as a former Royal Air Force pilot who now engages in air races and stunt aviation; the site includes this "one-wing landing" clip and another interview clip of him discussing the incident. Yet we could find no news stories about the remarkable event depicted in this video, and information about Andersson's past feats of aviation prowess seems to be rather scant outside of his own web site.

However, the killathrill brand of clothing is all over the place: Its name appears on the airplane in the landing clip, it appears on the jacket Andersson wears during in interview clip, and it appears on Andersson's web site. Moreover, the domain name for Andersson's web site, which appears to have been registered only since mid-September 2008, lists Sandra Thielecke as the owner, and Sandra Thielecke also just happens to be listed as a director at killathrill. Coincidence? We think not.

Most likely the clip has been produced by using editing techniques and digital manipulation to meld real footage of an airplane with additional footage of a smaller, remote-controlled aircraft. The Dutch travel company X-Travel used a similar "remarkable airplane landing" gimmick in an earlier promotion:


Last updated:   6 November 2008

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