This Video Of An F-35B Crash Is Fabricated
The Claim
A video shows an F-35B crash.
News posted on
Emerging story
Amidst the news of the disappearance of an F-35 fighter jet into South Carolina sky, a viral video was alleged to show an F-35B crash near Charleston, South Carolina.
The video first shows the plane in the sky then it disappears for a little until it shows up again with a bonfire somewhere at the foot of the same mountain on the same side of the plane. Finally, the plane just left as it appeared to drop behind the mountain.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar investigated the circulating claim and found it to be fake.
The Video of the F-35B Jet Crash Is Filmed With DCS
Misbar’s team traced the first uploader of this clip and found it to be a TikTok account named iceman_fox1. The video was posted with the caption, “BREAKING: A group of hikers capture on video an F-35B fighter jet crashing near Charleston, South Carolina,” making social media users believe it is accurate.
However, the uploader put hashtags like, #relaxitdcs, #dcs, #dcsworld, #msfs2020, #flightsim, #virtualreality, #vr, and #edit, referring that the clip was made with Digital Combat Simulator.
Also, the uploader posted the same video on their YouTube channel, confirming in the description that the video was filmed with a Digital Combat Simulator (DCS).
Furthermore, reviewing the TikTok account, Misbar’s team found that the user posts clips filmed with DCS along with breaking news in the caption. They clarify in the BIO that the videos are realistic DCS videos.
F-35 Fighter Jet Crash
On Monday, September 18, the wreckage of an F-35 was found in South Carolina after the Marine Corps lost track of it on Sunday and spent more than 24 hours searching. People in the area were later instructed to avoid it as the recovery team secured the debris field. Joint Base Charleston posted a tweet on X requesting people to help out with the search for the plane and asking people to call the Base Defense Operations Center should they have any information.
The pilot used an emergency parachute to eject from the F-35B Lightning II on Sunday afternoon over North Charleston. He was then taken to a medical center in a stable condition. When asked about the reason behind his fall, the 47-year-old pilot answered that it was because of an aircraft failure.
The jet is worth $100 million. It is designed to carry weapons like air-to-air missiles and guided bombs in internal bays, this could reduce the airplane's radar signature. That may be why the contact with the plane was lost.
This incident led the U.S. government to release a report on Thursday, September 21, declaring that the lack of technical data and training had left the U.S. military's F-35 fleet around 55% effective.
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