Does a real video show two crewmembers parachuting to the ground after ejecting from a damaged U.S. F-15 fighter jet over Iran? No, that's not true: A content detection tool determined with 99.9 percent confidence that the video was AI generated. While an F-15 was shot down over Iran on April 3, 2026, only one of the two crewmembers had been recovered at the time of writing.
The fake video (archived here) was uploaded on TikTok by @grammysammytiktok on April 3, 2026. It was captioned:
BREAKING: US Pilots Down in Iran After F-15 Strike - Emergency Rescue Operation Launched 🇺🇸🔥 #f15
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Image source: post by @grammysammytiktok on TikTok.)
The AI-generated content detection tool at Hive Moderation determined with 99.9 percent confidence (pictured below) that the video was generated by AI.
(Image source: Hive Moderation.)
At the time of writing, 4 p.m. ET on April 3, 2026, NBC News was providing live updates on the incident (archived here). The first point of the report:
- U.S. FIGHTER JET SHOT DOWN OVER IRAN: A search was underway Friday after a two-seat F-15 fighter jet was shot down over Iran. One of the F-15 pilots on the downed jet was rescued and is alive, a U.S. official told NBC News.
