Palm Beach plane crash footage isn't AI-generated, despite social media claims
Footage from Palm Beach County, Florida, shows a plane nosediving into the ground at full speed. It looks unreal. So unreal that some social media users say it's fake.
A plane crash in Palm Beach County, Florida, on November 1, 2022, has been verified as genuine despite social media claims that the footage was artificially generated. The Learjet 60, heading to the Bahamas from Austin, Texas, crashed into a neighborhood near Cresthaven, Florida, at approximately 12:51 p.m. ET, killing all aboard.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed the fatalities on the same day. While the cause of the crash remains under investigation, officials noted that the aircraft encountered turbulence and ice. The incident is being handled by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), with Timothy Monville leading the investigation.
The crash footage was first shared by Aki Kuusisto, a digital creator from West Palm Beach, on Facebook. Multiple news outlets, including The Associated Press, CNN, CBS News, and BBC, have corroborated the authenticity of the footage. Despite skepticism surrounding the video, AI recognition tools failed to identify it as AI-generated.
Experts suggest that the video's dramatic and frightening nature does not diminish its authenticity.
Written by urgent.news from PBS NewsHour's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
