The "secret flight" of a Russian military aircraft to Tel Aviv turned out to be fake. All because of one number

Conspiracy speculation is spreading on the social network X: allegedly, a Russian military plane with high-ranking officials on board twice made secret flights to Tel Aviv. It is stated that the aircraft with tail number RA-64516, identified as a military Tu-214SR, flew to Israel on August 20 and 23 (flight RWZ015).

At first glance, this is an intriguing message. Especially given the geopolitical tensions and secrecy surrounding the movements of Russian military and officials. However, upon closer examination, it turns out that this “sensational” statement is not an espionage operation, but a banal human error.

Where are the inconsistencies?

The investigation begins with checking WZ015 flight data. It turned out that this was a regular civil flight operated by Red Wings Airlines on the route Moscow (Domodedovo Airport, DME) — Tel Aviv (TLV). This flight is operated daily, with a clear schedule.

Flight data WZ015 from the Flightradar24 website

What immediately raises suspicion: military aircraft, especially with high-ranking officials on board, rarely adhere to a strict schedule. They fly on request, without a public schedule, with changing departure times and routes. And here there are two “military” flights on August 20 and 23 with the same departure and arrival times as a regular passenger flight? Unlikely.

Error in the flight number

The key to the solution lies in the aircraft’s tail number. The reports claimed that they were talking about RA-64516, which is indeed the number of a special Tu—214SR military aircraft used for electronic reconnaissance. Such a board belongs to the Russian Ministry of Defense and indeed exists.

However, if you look at the data on the real planes flying the WZ015 flight, it turns out that it is an RA-64518, a civilian Tu-214 belonging to the airline Red Wings.

The difference? Just one number: 16 versus 18.

Error in the transponder

A transponder is a device on board an aircraft that transmits flight number, altitude, speed, and route data to flight tracking systems (such as Flightradar24). Pilots or crew sometimes manually enter data into the transponder, and typos may occur in this process. Most likely, this is exactly what happened: when setting up the transponder, the Red Wings crew accidentally entered RA-64516 instead of RA-64518. Because of this single figure, the entire flight was mistakenly identified as a Russian military aircraft.

The consequences? A few days later, conspiracy theories began to appear on the Internet: “Russia is secretly negotiating with Israel,” “Senior military officials are flying to Tel Aviv”…

Conclusion

In fact, the specified Russian military aircraft did not fly to Israel. There were no secret missions, no secret meetings. There was an ordinary civilian flight in which the pilots or technicians made a small error when entering data.

This case is a vivid example of how a small technical error can create a fake. Sometimes there is just a human factor behind the “sensation”.