Old video of US Air Force pilot misrepresented as Indian colonel

Published on May 13, 2025 at 07:47
3 min read
By Sachin BAGHEL, AFP India

A video of a female pilot in a fighter jet has surfaced online in posts falsely claiming it shows an Indian colonel following the country's strikes on Pakistan in May 2025. The video was first uploaded in September 2021 and shows a US Air Force pilot during a demonstration in the state of Nevada.

"Colonel Sophia KURAISHI Salute to this brave daughter of India!" reads the Hindi-language caption of a video shared May 8, 2025 on X.

The clip shows a woman piloting a fighter jet. It surfaced online after India said it had carried out strikes on "terrorist camps" in Pakistan, which led to four days of fighting until US President Trump announced a truce on May 10 (archived links here and here).

Indian Army Colonel Sophia Qureshi, along with two other officers, addressed the media about the army’s operations on May 7 (archived link).

More than 60 people were killed in the arch-rivals' worst conflict in decades, sparked by an attack on the Indian-run side of the disputed Kashmir region that killed 26 tourists. New Delhi blamed the attack on Islamabad, which denied the accusation.

Screenshot of the false post taken on May 9, 2025

The video also surfaced on Instagram and X with similar claims that it shows Qureshi.

However, the footage is from an air show in the United States and features a US Air Force pilot.

A Google reverse image search using keyframes led to the same video posted March 18, 2024 on TikTok with a caption identifying the jet as an F-35A (archived link).

The F-35A is a fighter jet used by the US Air Force (archived link).

Screenshot comparison of the false post (L) and a TikTok video

Further keyword searches found a longer version of the same video uploaded September 20, 2021 to YouTube (archived link).

The description says it shows Major Kristin "Beo" Wolfe during an air show in Reno, Nevada (archived link). She is the commander of the regiment's demonstration team, according to her profile page on the website of the US Air Force's 388th Fighter Wing.

Scenes toward the end of the video show Wolfe wearing a uniform with the nametag "Beo Wolfe".

The US government's Defense Visual Information Distribution Service also posted a video of her demonstration during the 2021 Reno Air Races on its website (archived link).

The clip shows a woman piloting a fighter jet and making manoeuvres before landing again.

AFP has debunked a flurry of misinformation related to the India-Pakistan crisis here.

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