A video (here, here and here) going viral on social media shows a man hanging from a helicopter as it takes off and moves into the air. It is being claimed that the incident took place in Bihar. Let’s find out the truth behind this video.
Claim: The video showing a man hanging from a helicopter during takeoff is from Bihar.
Fact: The video is from Kenya, not Bihar. It shows a man named Stephen Odhiambo Ouma clinging to a helicopter after being denied a ride at a wedding in Rapogi village. The pilot later made an emergency landing, and no such incident occurred in Bihar. Hence the claim is FALSE.
To verify the claim, we examined the helicopter’s registration number visible in the viral video — 5Y-PKZ. According to data from the Laas International aircraft registry, the prefix “5Y” belongs to Kenyan-registered aircraft.
Additionally, when we reviewed the recent flight activity of 5Y-PKZ on the website Flightradar24, all its recent operations were recorded in Nairobi, Kenya, confirming that the helicopter is based there.
Then, we performed a reverse image search on Google, which led us to the same video uploaded by a popular travel-themed Instagram handle named “Travel.” The extended version of the video shows several African individuals, confirming the location. The post, dated 18 April 2025, was captioned, “A man in Kenya was recorded clinging onto the side of a helicopter after being refused a ride home from a wedding.”
Further search led us to several reports about this incident (here, here and here). According to the Daily Mail, a man identified as Stephen Odhiambo Ouma was filmed clinging to a helicopter during takeoff from a wedding in Rapogi village, Kenya, after being denied a ride. The pilot made an emergency landing soon after noticing him hanging mid-air. Ouma, though exhausted, described the experience as “exhilarating” and claimed he could have completed the 65-minute journey to Nairobi.
Additionally, a keyword search on Google for any such incident in Bihar yielded no results. Based on the available evidence, it is clear that the viral video has no connection to Bihar and shows an incident that took place in Kenya.
To sum up, this video of a man hanging onto a helicopter is from Kenya, not Bihar.
