A video is being widely shared on social media, where a person can be seen flying a plane-like structure while a huge crowd cheer him on. Those sharing the video claim it shows a teenager in Bihar flying a plane that he has built from scrap.
A social media user shared the video with a caption that reads, “Bihar teen Avanish Kumar has created a flying plane using only scrap in just a week with a cost of around Rs 7,000. Mainstream media will never show this news; they only want to show negative things about Bihar.”
SouthCheck found that the claim is false. The video is from Bangladesh.
On a Google reverse image search, we found that the same video was shared by a Facebook Page, Krishan TV, on March 9. The video was shared with a caption that reads, “The plane of the farmer’s son Julhas took to the sky again in front of thousands of people. #Manikganj_son_Julhas’s_plane.” (Translated from Bangla)
Taking a hint, we searched with appropriate keywords and found that the incident was also reported by a Bangladeshi news website, The Daily Star, on March 6. According to the report, a 28-year-old Bangladeshi mechanic, Julhas Molla, built a handmade ultralight aircraft using a water‑pump engine and local materials and successfully flew it about 50 ft high on March 4.
We further found that a video of the plane from a different angle was also shared by a YouTube channel, Create by Julhas, on February 28. The video was shared with a caption suggesting that it is the first time that Bangladesh has successfully built a plane.
We compared the plane in the viral video with the plane shown in this video and found them to be the same. The back wheels of both planes are yellow and the tail has military print, confirming that both are of the same flight.
The incident was also reported by another website on March 11.
According to the report, Julhas Mollah, a 28-year-old electronic mechanic from Manikganj, Bangladesh, successfully built and flew a self-constructed ultralight aircraft. According to the report, the flight lifted 10 to 12 feet off the ground.
The aircraft weighed over 100 kilograms and was built using a mix of aluminium, stainless steel and iron. Fitted with a digital speedometer and powered by a modest 7-horsepower water pump engine, the aircraft climbed to an altitude of 50 feet before Julhas brought it safely back to the ground.
Hence, we can ascertain that the viral claim is false.
