Was the "Ghost of Kyiv" identified after dying in battle? No, that's not true: The Ghost of Kyiv is not a real person. The mythical aviator "embodies the collective spirit of" Ukrainian pilots, according to the Twitter account of the Ukrainian air force. The Ghost of Kyiv has been both a rallying point and a source of pride for the…

Do NATO or European Union countries have plans to send combat aircraft to Ukraine? This claim concerns a fluid situation that the original post accurately described: an announcement that, as of March 2, 2022, looks like will not come to pass after all. Over the course of several days this situation has evolved. On February 27, 2022, Josep Borrell, high…

Does a YouTube video show a dogfight between Russian and Ukrainian fighter jets? No, that's not true: There's nothing in the 30-second clip that clearly identifies a warplane from either country and the maneuvers being made by the pilots would be highly unlikely in the middle of combat. Experts are divided on whether the grainy footage is legitimate, to begin…

Did a U.S. Navy pilot have to eject themselves from an aircraft before a crash caused by their reaction to a COVID-19 vaccine booster? No, that's not true: Although a Navy pilot was involved in an incident with a fighter jet that caused them to eject themselves from the aircraft, a Navy spokesperson told Lead Stories that the cause of…

Are pilot deaths up 1,700% after vax mandates? No, that's not true: The erroneous claim is based on an "In Memoriam" list that was published in the Air Line Pilots Association magazine that shows that more pilots died in 2021 than in 2020 and 2019. "The information in one magazine edition does not provide a complete report of the total…

Do COVID-19 vaccines approved in the United States contain hydrogel nanobots that multiply, rewrite human genetics and erase and plant memories in human brains? No, that's not true nor even possible in 2021. No private or academic lab has laid claim to the ability to make a robot that could pass through a COVID vaccine hypodermic needle carrying the kind…

Are vaccinated pilots dropping dead midflight? No, that's not true: "There is no truth to the claims about these two pilots," American Airlines told Lead Stories. The claims appear on a website known for farcical stories regarding political figures and other famous people, which Lead Stories has debunked multiple times. A message on the site notes that it "contains humor,…

Did this video prove its claim that the proposed oral COVID drug called molnupiravir is poisonous and causes cancer and mutations? No, that's not true: There's no credible and peer-reviewed lab or clinical data supplied, and the publicly-available evidence does not support the claims. The claims originated in an October 10, 2021, video (archived here) posted to BitChute by the…

Did air traffic controllers at the Jacksonville International Airport stage a walkout Friday, October 8, to protest COVID-19 vaccine mandates, resulting in all flights in and out of Florida being cancelled? No, that's not true: The National Air Traffic Controllers Association told Lead Stories that "there was weather that affected operations" and it was "a common occurrence." The Federal Aviation…

Is there an "epidemic of plane crashes linked to [the] COVID-19 jab"? No, that's not true: There's no documentation to back up the statement that there is an "epidemic" of crashes, much less one crash caused by COVID-19 vaccines. A video making the claim relies on a recent California crash, the cause of which has not yet been determined. A…