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← All fact checksMorning run · November 13, 2026 · #8 by reach
OtherConsumerEvent claim

Did British Airways flight BA431 suffer a double tail strike landing at Heathrow?

Does a viral video show British Airways flight BA431 suffering a double tail strike while landing at Heathrow on 12 November?

True, but…

The tail strike and go-around are confirmed; the word 'double' is not yet.

Yes, broadly. British Airways flight BA431, an Airbus A321neo registered G-TNEB from Amsterdam, touched its tail on runway 27L at London Heathrow around 10:35 on 12 November 2026 and the crew went around, landing safely on a second approach. The AAIB is investigating. Whether the tail hit once or twice is widely reported but not officially confirmed.

+4Sources ↓Original post ↗
Likely genuine
The post as it circulated, labelled by our media check.Video · 2:02 · 1920×1080

Claims

✓ 3 true

British Airways flight BA431 (Airbus A321neo, G-TNEB) from Amsterdam struck its tail on the runway while landing at Heathrow on the morning of 12 November 2026 and then went around.123

✓ TrueCentral claimHigh confidence

This is the part of the post that matters most, and it is confirmed from several directions. The Aviation Herald reports that after touchdown the tail contacted runway 27L and the crew went around. The Aviation Safety Network's accident database lists the same aircraft, registration, airline, airport, date and landing phase, and notes the AAIB is investigating. RNZ/1News and the Daily Mail describe the aborted landing and the safe second attempt, and British Airways confirmed the aircraft landed safely and that it is assisting the AAIB. These outlets are not simply copying one another: the Aviation Herald and the Aviation Safety Network are specialised accident recorders, while the news outlets add the airline's response. The video is also Big Jet TV's own live capture, with a tracking overlay matching the flight and timing. Nothing contradicts the core claim, which is why we rate it TRUE with HIGH confidence. What a reader should weigh is that the strike itself is settled fact, while the exact number of contacts is a separate question handled below.

The tail struck the runway twice (a 'double tail strike').1346

✓ Likely trueModerate confidence

The 'double' wording is the post's most distinctive detail, and it is well supported but not officially settled. RNZ/1News, the Daily Mail and the Brazilian outlet AEROIN all describe the rear of the aircraft appearing to hit the runway twice, and the video shows a bounce and repeated contact in the same short sequence. Against that, The Aviation Herald describes a single tail contact on the go-around, and Aero Corner warns that whether there were one or two contacts is for investigators to confirm. The AAIB has not published a finding. So the weight of reporting points towards two contacts, but the descriptions mostly rest on what reporters saw in the same Big Jet TV footage that the post uses. That makes the 'double' account less independent than it first looks. A plausible reading is one main strike plus a secondary light contact during the bounce, which different observers could count differently. We therefore call it LIKELY_TRUE rather than TRUE.

Still open: Will the AAIB confirm one contact or two, and how will it characterise the bounce?

The crew made a second approach and landed safely at Heathrow; the aircraft was taken out of service afterwards.15

✓ TrueHigh confidence

The second-approach half of this is strongly established. The Aviation Herald reports that the jet climbed to 4,000 feet, positioned for another approach to runway 27L and landed without further incident. British Airways said the aircraft landed safely and that it is assisting the AAIB. The video's on-screen 'Second Attempt' label matches those accounts. The withdrawal from service is reported rather than officially announced: AOL, drawing on reporting that includes the Daily Express, says the aircraft was taken out of service for engineering checks and gives a provisional return date. No source in our file contradicts either half. The main caution is that the service status may change as inspections proceed, so treat the return date as provisional. On the evidence available, the claim holds and we rate it TRUE with HIGH confidence.

What was posted

X

A post on X from the plane-spotting channel Big Jet TV sharing its own live-stream capture from a 24/7 camera at Heathrow. The video shows a British Airways Airbus A321neo landing, its tail contacting the runway, a bounce and a go-around, followed by a second approach. On-screen text labels it a 'DOUBLE TAIL-STRIKE!' and a 'Second Attempt', and a flight-tracking overlay shows G-TNEB operating BA431 from Amsterdam to Heathrow.

“Caught live on our 24/7 Camera BA431 encountered a double tail strike upon landing at Heathrow Airport this morning. What happened here? #aviation #avgeek”

Posted by the Big Jet TV X account (@BigJetTVLIVE), the same channel whose Heathrow camera filmed the landing; the footage is the channel's own capture, not a repost from another source.

Who posted it

X
@bigjettvlive
View the account on X ↗

Account check

Looks like a genuine account86%
Likelihood of automation7%

Estimates from public signals — account age, posting pattern, audience — not a judgement of the person behind the account, and separate from whether this post is true.

What stood out

  • Handle @BigJetTVLIVE is the long-standing, first-party X account of Big Jet TV, the UK aviation livestreaming channel founded in 2016 by Jerry Dyer (with Gilly Prestwood as technical/operations director).
  • Heavily cited as a source by mainstream outlets across years: The National (2020), BBC/ITV/Channel 5 and London Live (2022 Storm Eunice), LBC and Semana (2025 Heathrow tarmac trespass), Evening Standard (Storm Éowyn, Jan 2025).
  • Most recent output is directly corroborated: its 12 Nov 2026 footage of the BA431 A321neo (G-TNEB) double tail strike at Heathrow was picked up by Daily Mail, 1News/RNZ, Aeroin, AOL, and an AAIB investigation was opened — consistent with earlier reporting that BigJetTV 'raised the alarm'.
  • Content is original, first-hand footage shot from airport perimeters, not aggregated or scraped — a strong authenticity signal for an aviation source.
  • Not platform-verified in supplied metadata, but that reflects a small independent media operation rather than impersonation; the account is routinely embedded/quoted by verified newsrooms.
  • Faces a niche, long-running dispute with a rival account (@BigJetTVLies) alleging airport-filming permission breaches and offensive commentary; Dyer/Prestwood deny this as a harassment campaign. These are conduct/etiquette allegations, not documented misinformation or fabricated footage.
  • Commentary is deliberately dramatic ('BOSH', 'go on my son'), which some aviation specialists call sensationalist; a 2026 AeroCorner report notes investigators must confirm whether there was one or two contacts, i.e. the account's on-air interpretation slightly outran the confirmed facts.
  • No fact-checker rulings, platform suspensions, or misinformation flags found; profile metadata supplied is empty (no bio, followers, creation date), so assessment relies on off-platform corroboration.
Signals (8)+
Account type
Independent media / livestreaming organisation, human-operated
Notable news coverage
The National (Feb 2020); BBC Radio 2 / ITV This Morning / Channel 5 News (Feb 2022); Evening Standard (Jan 2024, Jan 2025); LBC (Jun 2025); Daily Mail, RNZ/1News, Aeroin, AOL (Nov 2026 tail strike)
First party content
Yes
Corroboration recent
Nov 2026 Heathrow BA431 tail strike independently reported by multiple outlets and AAIB
Known controversies
Niche harassment feud with @BigJetTVLies; allegations of unauthorized filming and on-air remarks; no misinformation findings
Fact check history
None found
Posting cadence
Regular clip/breaking-news posts tied to live streams; consistent with human-run media operation
Metadata completeness
Very low (bio, followers, creation date all null)

Account checked November 13, 2026, 03:13 UTC

The media

Video
Likely genuinePresented as real footage· The claim depends on it

✓ What is genuine

The footage is Big Jet TV's own live-stream capture from its Heathrow camera, and the aircraft, registration, flight number and timing match independent accident reporting. The on-screen labels ('DOUBLE TAIL-STRIKE!', 'Second Attempt') are the channel's own commentary, not composited fake content.

The tells

  • ●●● Strong signal The AI-generation detector scored the video at about 0.005 for AI-generated and 0.0 for deepfake, with 'not AI generated' at roughly 0.99997.our detector
  • ●●● Strong signal The channel's own watermark and a tracking overlay identify the flight, registration and route in a way that matches independent records of BA431 and G-TNEB.our visual review
  • ●●○ Supporting signal The scene shows a physically ordinary sequence — flare, tail contact, bounce, go-around and second approach — consistent with the accident reports.our visual review
  • ●○○ Weak signal The overlay uses mixed units (feet and metres, knots and km/h) between sequences, which fits footage drawn from different camera captures rather than fabricated imagery.our visual review

Synthetic-media detector

Detector ran

The claim stands or falls on whether the media is real, so the detector ran.

AI-generated likelihood1%
Deepfake likelihood0%

Scores are the detector’s estimate for the file as uploaded. A low score does not rule out editing, a spliced caption, or footage shown out of context — those are judged above. Model v3.

How we checked the media

  • Reviewed the keyframes and on-screen elements: the channel's watermark, the flight-tracking overlay showing G-TNEB / BA431 / AMS–LHR, and the timestamps for the first and second attempts.
  • Checked the scene for physical plausibility: a narrowbody flaring, a bounce, a go-around and a second approach are routine aviation events.
  • Compared the footage's narrative with independent accident reporting from The Aviation Herald and the Aviation Safety Network and with RNZ/1News.
  • Ran an AI-generation detector on the video (hive-v3), which returned a very low AI-generated score and no deepfake signal.

Sources

7 sources reviewed

Further reading

  • 1The Aviation Herald The most detailed aviation-accident account, including the go-around and the second landing.
  • 2Aviation Safety Network The formal accident database entry, useful for checking the registration, date and investigating authority.
  • 6Aero Corner Explains why the 'double' count is not yet settled, a useful counterweight to the post's framing.

The full story

The kernel of truth here is a real and unusual aviation event. On the morning of 12 November 2026, a British Airways Airbus A321neo, registration G-TNEB, was landing on runway 27L at Heathrow after a scheduled flight from Amsterdam when its tail contacted the runway. The crew went around, climbed to 4,000 feet, positioned for another approach and landed on the same runway without further incident. British Airways said the aircraft landed safely and that it is assisting the AAIB, which is investigating.

The post's framing did not invent the event. Big Jet TV, a channel that runs a 24/7 camera at Heathrow, filmed the landing live and posted its own capture. The on-screen label and the caption called it a 'double tail strike', and several news outlets used the same description. That is why the claim travelled: it was true in outline, published by the channel that filmed it, and matched by mainstream coverage.

The 'double' detail is where the post runs slightly ahead of the evidence. The Aviation Herald describes a single tail contact, while Aero Corner notes that whether there were one or two contacts is for investigators to confirm. A bounce can produce a main strike and a lighter secondary contact that different observers count differently. None of that makes the video fake or the incident invented. It means the most dramatic word in the post is the one still waiting on the AAIB.

Kernel of truth

A genuine tail strike on launchy 27L followed by a go-around and a safe second landing.

Timeline

  1. November 12, 2026

    Around 10:35 local time, British Airways A321neo G-TNEB, operating BA431 from Amsterdam, touches its tail on runway 27L at Heathrow and the crew goes around. 1The Aviation Herald

  2. November 12, 2026

    The aircraft climbs to 4,000 feet, makes a second approach and lands on runway 27L without further incident. 1The Aviation Herald

  3. November 12, 2026

    Big Jet TV posts its live-stream capture of the landing on X, describing a 'double tail strike'.

  4. November 13, 2026

    RNZ/1News reports that the jet's tail struck the runway twice and that a probe has been launched. 31News (RNZ)

How it was framed

Accurate

The post's core claim — a BA431 tail strike at Heathrow on 12 November 2026 followed by a go-around and safe second landing — is confirmed by independent accident reporting and the airline's statement. The one detail that outruns the evidence, 'double', is widely reported and flagged as unconfirmed in our claim analysis rather than treated as false.

  • “Visual proof”. The post presents its own live-stream footage as the direct record of the event, with an on-screen 'DOUBLE TAIL-STRIKE!' label.
  • Emotional language. The caption asks 'What happened here?' and the on-screen text uses an exclamation mark, framing the clip as a dramatic moment.

Posted by the Big Jet TV X account (@BigJetTVLIVE), the channel that operates the Heathrow camera which filmed the landing. The post shares the channel's own capture and carries its own on-screen annotations.

Bias

NoneSlightModerateStrong

The post is a plane-spotting clip with a neutral factual caption asking 'What happened here?' There is no political or advocacy slant.

Bias describes how the post frames its message — the slant of the language, selection and emphasis — and is judged separately from whether the claim is true. A true claim can still be framed with a strong slant.

How we checked

58 s
  1. 1

    Ran targeted searches for the registration G-TNEB, the flight number BA431 and the phrase 'double tail strike Heathrow'.

  2. 2

    Compared the post's account with accident reporting from The Aviation Herald and the Aviation Safety Network, and with news coverage from RNZ/1News, the Daily Mail, AOL/Daily Express, Aero Corner and AEROIN.

  3. 3

    Reviewed the video's keyframes and on-screen elements, including the channel watermark, the flight-tracking overlay and the timestamps.

  4. 4

    Ran an AI-generation detector (hive-v3) on the video; it returned a very low AI-generated score and no deepfake signal.

  5. 5

    Checked whether the airline had commented and whether an investigation had been opened.

✓ Claim checked✓ Media checked✓ Sources checked

Why 86% confidence

Moderate

We are at MODERATE overall because the core event is strongly corroborated and the footage is almost certainly genuine, but the headline's most distinctive word — 'double' — rests on outlets describing the same clip and is not yet confirmed by the AAIB. The central claim itself is HIGH confidence; the 'double' claim is MODERATE.

Limits. We did not open the original pages directly; our comparison relies on the source excerpts in our file. We have no AAIB report, so the exact number of tail contacts cannot be settled here.

What we don’t know

  • Whether the tail contacted the runway once or twice, which the AAIB has not yet confirmed.
  • What damage, if any, the aircraft sustained and when it will return to service beyond the provisional date reported.
  • Whether the AAIB will classify the event as an accident or an incident, and what it identifies as the cause.

Spot it yourself

Find the overstatement

Looks suspicious, isn’t proof

  • The caption's dramatic tone and the on-screen exclamation mark make the post feel like clickbait, but tone alone tells you nothing about whether the event happened.
  • The channel is a plane-spotting operation posting its own footage, which can look like self-promotion, but that does not make the footage wrong.
  • The overlay shows mixed units between sequences, which can look like an editing error, but different camera captures can explain that.
  • The phrase 'double tail strike' sounds like an exaggeration, but several news outlets used the same wording.

The actual evidence

  • Independent accident records — The Aviation Herald and the Aviation Safety Network — list the same aircraft, registration, airport, date and landing phase.
  • British Airways confirmed the aircraft landed safely and that it is assisting the AAIB.
  • The video's tracking overlay matches the flight number, registration and route, and the AI detector found no sign of synthetic generation.
  • The 'double' detail is described by several outlets but contradicted in part by The Aviation Herald's single-contact account and flagged as unconfirmed by Aero Corner.
  1. 1

    Check whether specialist accident recorders list the event.

    Search the registration (G-TNEB) or flight number alongside 'tail strike'. Databases such as the Aviation Safety Network and outlets such as The Aviation Herald keep dated entries that are hard to fake.

  2. 2

    Look for the airline's own statement.

    A confirmed incident usually brings a short airline line — here, that the aircraft landed safely and the airline is assisting the AAIB. If no airline or regulator says anything, treat the post with more caution.

  3. 3

    Separate the event from the label.

    Ask which words in the post are describing what happened and which are the poster's characterisation. 'Tail strike' and 'go-around' are descriptions; 'double' is a count that needs a source.

  4. 4

    Check whether the count is officially confirmed.

    Look for the investigating body's statement — here the AAIB — rather than relying on outlets describing the same footage. If the investigator has not published, treat the count as reported but unconfirmed.

Takeaway

A post can be right about the event and ahead of the evidence on one dramatic detail. Confirm the event from independent records, then ask separately whether the most striking word is officially settled.

Questions people ask

Did British Airways flight BA431 really have a tail strike at Heathrow?+

Yes. On 12 November 2026, the Airbus A321neo G-TNEB operating BA431 from Amsterdam touched its tail on runway 27L at Heathrow and the crew went around. The Aviation Herald, the Aviation Safety Network and RNZ/1News reported it, and British Airways confirmed the aircraft landed safely and is assisting the AAIB.

Was it a double tail strike?+

Probably, but not officially confirmed. RNZ/1News, the Daily Mail and AEROIN describe the tail appearing to hit twice, and the video shows a bounce. The Aviation Herald describes a single contact, and Aero Corner notes the count is for investigators to confirm. The AAIB has not published a finding.

Is the Big Jet TV video real or AI-generated?+

It appears genuine. The footage is the channel's own live-stream capture, with its watermark and a tracking overlay matching G-TNEB and BA431. Our AI-generation detector found no sign of synthetic media, and the sequence matches independent accident reports.

Did the plane land safely after the tail strike?+

Yes. According to The Aviation Herald, the jet climbed to 4,000 feet, positioned for another approach and landed on runway 27L without further incident. British Airways said the aircraft landed safely, and reports say it was taken out of service for inspection.

What happens after a tail strike?+

In general, a tail strike is treated as a serious event: the crew typically goes around if the landing is not stable, and the aircraft is inspected before returning to service. In this case the AAIB is investigating, which is standard for such incidents in the UK.

Go deeper

Tail strike
When the rear of an aircraft touches the runway during take-off or landing, usually because the nose is pitched too high.
Go-around
When a crew aborts a landing approach and climbs away to try again, often because the landing is not stable or something goes wrong.
AAIB
The UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch, the government body that investigates aviation accidents and incidents in the UK.
Flight-tracking overlay
On-screen text added by a broadcaster showing a flight's number, route, altitude and speed, usually drawn from a tracking service.
Deepfake
A video or audio clip that has been synthetically altered or generated to show someone or something that did not happen.

People also search for

Big Jet TV double tail strike HeathrowG-TNEB tail strike HeathrowBritish Airways A321neo tail strike Heathrow November 2026BA431 go around Heathrow tailgolpe de cola doble British Airways Heathrow
For educators+
The difference between an accurate event and an overstated detailSource dependence: several outlets describing the same footage are not several independent sourcesHow official investigations work and why they take timeVerifying a video through its on-screen metadata and physical plausibility
  • The post says 'double tail strike'. Which parts of that phrase are confirmed, and which need an official finding? How would you rewrite the caption to be accurate?
  • Several news outlets used the same 'double' wording while describing the same Big Jet TV clip. Does that make the claim stronger or weaker? Why?
  • If you saw this video with no caption, what would you check first to decide whether it was real?

About this check

Platform
X
Posted by
@bigjettvlive
Posted
November 12, 2026
Age when checked
Under 24 hours old when checked
Where it spread
United Kingdom
Audience
UK & EU audience
Language
EN
Status
● Post is live
Verified
November 13, 2026, 03:14 UTC
Published
November 13, 2026, 03:14 UTC

Reach. 15,725 likes and 1,139 replies on X (syndication, 13 Nov 02:40Z). Picked up by Express and The Sun, which reports the AAIB was called in, and by Nacionale.

This verdict was generated with AI from the sources shown. AI can make mistakes — check the sources before relying on it.

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