A viral image featuring hundreds of birds flying near a British Airways aircraft sparked a story that quickly gained traction online. The photo was accompanied by a motivational caption, leading many to believe there was an emotional tale behind it. Snopes investigated the claims.
The story, which appeared in March 2024, suggested that a British Airways pilot named Jason had a strong emotional reaction after learning why a flock of birds was flying close to his plane. One reader reached out to Snopes after seeing a headline on the website happiness-life.org that read: “The pilot’s emotional reaction when he discovered why birds were flying alongside the plane.”
The image in question showed hundreds of birds seemingly surrounding a British Airways flight, which some readers may have mistakenly connected to the common aviation issue of bird strikes. According to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, around 90% of bird strikes occur near airports, often during takeoff or landing.
One of the most famous bird strike incidents was US Airways Flight 1549, when Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger safely landed the plane in the Hudson River in 2009.
After conducting an investigation, Snopes found that the viral story about the “emotional pilot” was not true.
The ‘Emotional’ Pilot’s Story: A Fictional Tale
Jason, a skilled and experienced pilot, had dealt with many challenging situations throughout his career. However, a particular event involving a large flock of birds would soon capture the public’s imagination.
According to the fictional story, Jason was flying when a massive group of birds started hitting the aircraft’s windows. In a panic, he tried to escape the situation but found it increasingly difficult. The bird attacks forced him to return to the airport, and when the situation became even more intense, he attempted an emergency water landing. Miraculously, no passengers were harmed.
When the rescue teams arrived, they faced delays because the birds were continuing their attacks. Eventually, it was revealed that one of the passengers had been illegally trafficking exotic birds, which was the cause of the attack. Jason’s emotional reaction came when he realized that not only had he saved everyone on board, but he had also uncovered a criminal operation.
However, Snopes found several red flags in this narrative. First, the pilot, Jason, was never identified by last name, and British Airways was never directly mentioned in the report. Furthermore, the story was an example of “glurge,” a term for emotionally charged, sentimental tales that often ignore facts to deliver an inspirational message.
The investigation also revealed that the image of the birds and the British Airways flight had been used in other misleading articles, such as one claiming “British Airways planes carrying Christians attacked by strange birds in the air.”
A reverse image search on TinEye.com led Snopes to a page on airliners.net, where it was confirmed that the image was taken by Adam Samu on June 15, 2004, at Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport. The photograph showed a British Airways Boeing 757-236 during takeoff, with birds flying in the distance. Samu clarified that the birds were not as close to the aircraft as they appeared in the photo, explaining that it was an optical illusion.
Samu explained that the birds were on the grass near the runway and took flight as the plane began its ascent. He confirmed that no bird strike occurred and that the aircraft did not collide with any birds during the incident.
In conclusion, the emotional story surrounding the pilot and the bird attack was entirely fictional, and the image was not related to any such event. The image was simply an optical illusion captured during a routine flight in Hungary many years ago.
