A compilation of two unrelated videos is being shared as showing the IAF Tejas crash at the Dubai Airshow
On 21 November 2025, an Indian Air Force (IAF) Tejas fighter jet crashed during its aerobatic display at the Dubai Airshow 2025. The pilot, Wing Commander Namansh Syal from Kangra, lost his life in the accident. The IAF has announced a court of inquiry to determine the cause of the crash and has expressed condolences to the officer’s family (here, here, and here).
In this context, a video is circulating on social media (here, here, and here) that claims to show the moment the IAF Tejas jet crashed during the Dubai Airshow on 21 November 2025. Let’s verify the claim made in the post in this article.
Claim: The video shows the moment the IAF Tejas jet crashed during the Dubai Airshow on 21 November 2025.
Fact: The video is a compilation of two different clips and does not show the Tejas crash at the Dubai Airshow on 21 November 2025. The first clip, showing an aircraft performing manoeuvres, predates the crash and has been online since at least 18 November 2025. The second clip, which shows an aircraft crashing, is from a Polish Air Force F-16 accident during an airshow rehearsal in Poland in August 2025, in which the pilot died. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Upon closely reviewing the viral video, we found that it is a compilation of two different clips. To verify the first part, we performed a reverse image search of key frames from the viral video, which led us to the same video uploaded on the YouTube channel AIRFORCE.IAF8 on 18 November 2025. This upload predates the Tejas fighter jet crash of 21 November 2025 and was posted with the caption: “Tejas performs sharp turn manoeuvres at Dubai Airshow #DubaiAirshow #DAS2025 #DubaiAirshow2025 #IAF.” Notably, the crash segment seen in the viral video does not appear in this clip.
We repeated the same process for the second part of the viral video, which shows visuals of an aircraft crashing. This led us to a YouTube video uploaded by NBC News on 29 August 2025 featuring the same footage. The video is titled “Video captures the moment an F-16 jet crashes during preparations for an air show in Poland.” According to the description, it shows a Polish Air Force F-16 that crashed during an airshow rehearsal, resulting in the pilot’s death.
According to the reports (here, here), a Polish Air Force F-16 crashed in Radom, Central Poland, killing a Polish Army pilot. Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz described it as a “great loss for the Air Force.”
This confirms that the viral video is a compilation of two unrelated clips that were merged to falsely depict the moment the IAF Tejas jet crashed during the Dubai Airshow on 21 November 2025.
To sum up, a compilation of two unrelated videos is being shared as showing the IAF Tejas crash at the Dubai Airshow.