This video of a Lufthansa aircraft was created using a flight simulator programme

The 39-second video was published in this Twitter post on October 21, 2019. 

The post’s Spanish-language caption translates to English as: “A Lufthansa plane, in an accident while trying to land, the cunning pilot avoids a big tragedy”.

The clip purports to show an aircraft operated by German flag carrier Lufthansa.

Below is a screenshot of the misleading post: 

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The video has been viewed millions of times in multiple tweets, including here and here in English; here and here in Italian; here in French and here in Turkish alongside a similar claim. It was also shared here on Facebook in Turkish with a similar claim.

The videos have the watermark and the account name of TikTok user @kelvinklayn. The same video has been viewed tens of thousands of times in this post on social media video app TikTok after it was uploaded by user @kelvinklayn without a caption.

Comments on the video suggested some TikTok users believed it showed a real-life incident. Below is a screenshot of the some of the comments: 

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The claim is false; the video has been created using a flight simulation programme.

A Lufthansa spokesperson told AFP by email on October 25, 2019, that the video was “NOT a real life scenario.” 

An analysis of keyframes extracted from the clip using video verification tool InVID found it consists of computer-generated imagery.

Sinking engines 

This still from the video shows parts of the Lufthansa flight’s engines sinking into the ground upon contact, leaving no visible damage to the runway. This would not be possible in a real-life event.

Below is a screenshot of the specific moment in the video: 

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No damage to plane  

The aircraft also remains intact following the hard landing, while fire, sparks and smoke are common in news reports about similar bumpy landings. Below is a screenshot of the plane at the end of the video: 

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The Washington Post reported here on November 1, 2011, that sparks flew after a Boeing 767 skidded to a stop in Warsaw, Poland. 

Flight simulator

Pete Wright, who runs a YouTube channel about flight simulation videos, told AFP in an email dated October 24, 2019: “There’s no damage at all to any part of this aircraft through the impacts - in Microsoft FSX this is achieved by a setting called ‘Ignore collisions’. Instead the aircraft will continue moving after a crash, no parts of the aircraft will detach, no debris will be seen, no fire, etc.”

Microsoft FSX, or Flight Simulator X, is a flight simulation programme published by the tech giant. 

Wright said the video in the misleading tweet appears to have been created using the X-Plane 11 flight simulation programme. 

Marty Arant, marketing consultant at X-Plane creator Laminar Research, told AFP in an email dated October 26, 2019: “It’s certainly a video made from a flight simulator recording and not a real aircraft touching down. And it does look like X-Plane but I can’t declare with all certainty that it was made using X-Plane without seeing more of the local environment (buildings, etc).” 

Multiple YouTube channels specialised in flight simulation have used X-Plane 11 to demonstrate the virtual flying experience with a Lufthansa aircraft.