A video recently uploaded by a YouTube channel that purports to show the world’s largest aircraft built by Filipinos is a simulation lifted from another channel that openly says nothing in the video is real.
The title of the video posted May 22 by Ella Vloggs dubbed the supposed aircraft as a “monster” plane built by Filipinos:
MAPAPABILIB KA SA MONSTER PLANE GINAWA NG PINOY! PHILIPPINE VINES BREAKING NEWS VIRAL (YOU’LL BE IMPRESSED BY THIS MONSTER AIRPLANE BUILT BY FILIPINOS! PHILIPPINE NEWS BREAKING VIRAL)
The caption in the video also misreported that the new aircraft, the largest in the world, had landed and taken off in Guam:
BAGONG GAWA NA PINAKAMALAKING EROPLANO SA MUNDO GINAWA NG MGA PINOY ! SA GUAM ! PINALIPAD NA ! NAG LANDING NA (NEWLY BUILT LARGEST AIRPLANE IN THE WORLD BUILT BY FILIPINOS ! IN GUAM ! HAS TAKEN OFF ! AND LANDED)!
The video gave no other details about the aircraft.
A reverse image search on Yandex and Bing revealed that the video originated from the YouTube channel “zias,” which is dedicated to game simulations.
Zias posted the original video on Jan. 30, 2021 with the title “Monsters & Biggest Airplane Landing.”
Included in its description is a disclaimer stating, “Everything in this video doesn’t happen in real life. This is just a demonstration of the physics in this game & has nothing to do with reality. This situation is just a challenge for me is only in simulation & This situation is not real!”
A comparison of the two videos shows that Ella Vloggs had zoomed in on and flipped zias’ video horizontally.
The Antonov AN-225 Mriya was regarded as the world’s largest aircraft until it was destroyed on Feb. 27, 2022 in the Hostomel airfield during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It holds the Guinness World Record for “The Largest Aircraft by Weight,” with a maximum take-off capacity of 640 metric tons.
Myria was built by Ukrainian aircraft manufacturer Antonov, founded by Oleg Antonov.
Following its destruction, the world’s largest aircraft by weight is now the Stratolaunch Roc, with a maximum take-off capacity of 590 metric tons and built by American aerospace company Stratolaunch Systems established by Paul Allen. The Roc completed its 11th test flight last May 13 from the Mojave Air and Space Port to the Vandenberg Air Force Base in the United States.
The Philippines’ largest aircraft is Philippine Airlines’ (PAL) B777-300 ER built by the American company Boeing. PAL has 10 operational B777s in its fleet.
Created in February 2019, Ella Vloggs has posted more than 1,900 videos and has roughly 304,000 subscribers. The video containing the claim, described as a “video reaction parody” has attracted 29,000 views, 399 likes, and 50 comments.
Ella Vloggs has previously been fact-checked by News5, VERA Files, Rappler and FactRakers for misreporting on military activities. (AB)