Flight simulator video falsely shared as 'near-collision between two planes in Dubai'

Published on February 23, 2024 at 07:54
3 min read
By Chayanit ITTHIPONGMAETEE, AFP Thailand

A computer-generated video does not show a Qantas airliner almost colliding with an Emirates plane on the runway at Dubai International Airport, as false posts viewed millions of times around the world claimed. As of February 23, 2024, there have been no official reports that such an incident ever occurred.

"A breathtaking video. This is when an Australian Qantas airline plane nearly collided with an Emirates airline plane at Dubai airport," an X user wrote in Thai on February 1, 2024.

The 19-second video appears to show a Qantas airliner narrowly avoiding a collision with an Emirates plane by aborting its landing on a runway.

The X post has been viewed more than 1.7 million times and reshared more than 6,000 times.

A screenshot of the false post captured on February 9, 2024.

As of February 23, 2024, there have been no official reports about the alleged incident. However, in February 2016, two Qantas planes were reported to have avoided a near miss with an Emirates aircraft at Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport (archived link).

The computer-generated video has been shared with a false claim in Thai on X and TikTok; as well as in English posts on TikTok and Instagram; and Arabic-language posts viewed more than 2.7 million times on X and Facebook.

Comments from some users indicated they believed that the video showed a real-life incident.

"Total mismanagement of ground signaling!!!" one Instagram user commented.

"The pilot is very talented and aware!" an X user wrote.

However, the original clip was made for "entertainment" purposes, according to its creator.

Flight simulator video

AFP conducted a Google reverse image search using one of the video's keyframes and found a matching, higher-quality video published on a YouTube channel called "Aviation for Everyone" (archived link).

The video, uploaded on July 24, 2023, was titled, "Airplane Accidently Came in the Runway During Landing Of A380..."

According to the channel's description, it shares videos created from various games including Microsoft Flight Simulator, Grand Theft Auto V, and X-plane 11.

"In this channel you guys will find aviation videos , video of planes in which we perform different kind (sic) of stuff like landings stunts and crashes and crash landings from different video games..."

It goes on to say that the videos are made for "fun and entertainment" purposes.

Below is a comparison between the false post (left) and the YouTube video (right):

The video alongside the false claim has been debunked by fact-checkers from other organisations including Factly, Fact Crescendo, and The Quint (archived links here, here, and here).

AFP previously published a story sharing tips for identifying flight simulator images here.

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