This video has been shared multiple times on Facebook over the past month with claims that 4 pilots were granted permission to do a final farewell flypast in honour of South African Airways (SAA), the country’s now-bankrupt national carrier.
A flypast/flyover/flyby is a ceremonial or honorific flight by a group of aircraft or a single aircraft.
Background
South Africa has 8,232 confirmed cases of COVID-19, 161 deaths and 3153 recoveries so far. As a measure to curb the spread of the virus, the country has been on lockdown since March.
South Africa Airways, which has been deep in debt marred by years of mismanagement and corruption, was placed under a state-approved turnaround plan in December 2019 as a last resort to save the company from total collapse.
Meanwhile, the ban on both domestic and international passenger flights remains in place, grounding all flights except for repatriation flights either bringing back South Africans or transporting foreign nationals to their countries. This has greatly hampered efforts that had been put in place to rescue the airline before the lockdown.
Verification
While the video was indeed taken in South Africa, a search for South Africa flypast yields this tweet (see below) by the official twitter handle, dated May 25, 2019.
Watch #SAInauguration19 from the eyes of our pilots as they flew over Loftus today. Your #LookUpSAA moment may be featured as well. #FlySAA pic.twitter.com/rMAjr7gSoP
— SAA – South Africa (@flysaa) May 25, 2019
The video being shared was actually taken during the inauguration of the country’s 6th democratically elected President, Cyril Ramaphosa, at the Loftus Versveld Stadium in Tshwane.
The event was also widely covered by local media in the country. See here and here.
Verdict
The video being shared online is an old one and as such has nothing to do with the ongoing pandemic, making the claim FALSE.
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