Story:
Virgin Atlantic Airways Launches World’s First Glass-bottomed Plane.
Other Versions
Virgin launches new jet with see-through glass floor.
Analysis:
These are the picture messages that claim to show the Virgin Atlantic Airways has launched world’s first see-through Glass-bottomed Plane. Let us analyze if it is really a fact!
The Origin
In April 2013, Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin Group announced in their website that Virgin Atlantic Airways launches glass-bottomed plane in an attempt to enable the Little Red passengers see through the floor and appreciate the beauty of the British landscape. Some pictures were also released with this announcement, which keep resurfacing every now and then. What’s more, some of the news outlets like The Daily Mirror (Mirror.co.uk) took to this and made it popular. More interestingly, quoting this as source, China’s CCTV ran it as odd but real news.
April Fool’s Joke
Yeah, not many could have checked the date the article was published; it was on 1 April 2013. Following Richard Branson’s announcement of the world’s first ever glass-bottomed plane, author Bob Fear of Virgin wrote another article speculating whether they can spot Nessie (the Loch Ness Monster) from their glass-bottomed plane. The Glass-bottomed plane was launched as April Fool’s Prank. Even The Daily Mirror had made it clear it was in on the joke by reminding readers that it was April Fool’s Day. China’s CCTV, which seems to have missed on this, pulled the clip from its website later. So much for an April fools prank!
Hoax or Fact:
Hoax.
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