Miraculous Safe Landing of Racing Pilot-Probably a Hoax!

Miraculous Safe Landing of Racing Plane After Losing a Wing-Probable Hoax!

Summary of the eRumor:
The email includes a link to a video of a single-engine racing plane that appears to lose a wing during a high-stress maneuver. The pilot appears to miraculously regain control of the airplane, however, by flying it sideways in a knife edge configuration and to the ground where at the last minute he flips the plane upright and makes a safe landing.

The Truth:

There is accumulating evidence that this is a fabricated video meant to attract attention on the Internet and promote a product, in this case KillAThrill clothing and, perhaps, Red Bull.

As can be seen in the video, the sponsorship of the airplane is KillAThrill.

A tip-off of the company's sponsorship of the fake video, however, is at the web site www.jamesandersson.com. James Anderson is the alleged pilot of the racing plane in the video.

There is an interview with Anderson about his miracle flight. The interview ends with a prominent display of his KillAThrill clothing. Click to view.

The domain is registered to a "Sandra Thielecke" with a KillAThrill email address.

Pilots who have evaluated the video say it seems that some portions of it are characteristic of more of a radio control model than a full size airplane.

Also, the representation on the James Andersson web site is that he is flying in air racing competition in the Red Bull series of air races that have taken place in several cities around the world. His web site also claims that he filed a "G-300" aircraft. A check at the Red Bull site shows that there are three types of aircraft used in the Red Bull races, none of which is the "G-300."

updated 10/31/08

A real example of the eRumor as it has appeared on the Internet:

THE BEST AIR RACE PILOT EVER!!!