Netflix Offers an In Depth Documentary on the Uneventful Drama with ‘The Decoy Plane’

Netflix Screenshot from “The Decoy Plane”

Coming this Friday to Netflix, the streaming giant is delivering the heart-stopping details of what many journalists endured when… nothing at all happened to them. The platform has released a trailer for its latest entry in its Instadocs series, entitled “The Decoy Plane.”

As you can guess, this is the gripping account of what the White House Press Corps endured in July when it rode on the flight of Air Force One from Turkey following the NATO Summit. This is the infamous time when the president was secreted off of the plane, unbeknownst to anyone, for the sake of protecting him from a suspected terror plot by Iran.

What followed in the ensuing days was a mixture of ridicule towards the president, but far more evident was pearl-clutching outrage from those in the press gaggle and others in the media. The problem was that they had not been properly alerted and were left unprotected on the flight.

It is a case study of the over-inflated sense of import many journalists feel; they reacted as if spiriting the president away in the name of safety was an unacceptable move, because they were not assured any protection. What was left off of these voluminous complaints was what they expected to take place.

Had the passengers been evacuated from AF-1, that could have tipped off any of the potential attackers, and their plot could have been adjusted to retarget President Trump. The media wonks wailing about their safety was a display of severe fainting couch dramatics. Now Netflix delivers all of the emotional hysteria in graphic fashion.

In the trailer, veteran White House photographer Alex Brandon, from the Associated Press, details some of the events. He describes seeing the catering supply containers on the sides of the plane, and with grave intonations he explains what an anomaly that was concerning AF-1. “I have NEVER seen that before. 40 years, doing presidents – never seen that before. So I shot it. I shot the Sh** out of it!”

Adding to the theatrics will be accounts from other journalists, including Carol Leonnig from MS NOW, investigative reporter Dan Lamothe, the Washington Post reporter who broke the story, and Gram Slattery, Reuters White House reporter.

To get a sense of where the focus of the documentary is likely to go, we have this description from Netflix:

Beyond showing the lengths the Secret Service will go to protect the president, this installment reveals the cost of that mission: to get him home safely, a plane full of reporters and the public they answer to were left flying blind.

This event in Turkey reflects a move made back in 2000, during a presidential trip from India to Pakistan. A dummy plane was used, complete with a Secret Service agent posing as the president, while President Bill Clinton arrived in a different unmarked jet.

Of course, that story is different because it simply involved two different smaller jets with staff scattered between them. Unlike the scheme in Turkey, no journalists were imperiled! The fact that the term “decoy plane” has fallen into common practice explains all of the media melodrama.

The complaints we heard in the weeks after this incident were already tough to take. The press behaving as if they hold a place of import on par with the president is mirthful. But the mockery of Trump over this makes little sense.

The president was criticized by many for the “cowardly” way he ducked off the flight and left the media exposed. It sounded similar to what was heard during his first term, when protesters rioted outside the White House, and he was moved to the basement for safety. Some said he was timidly “hiding” in the bunker.

These critiques have to ignore that the calls are made by the Secret Service detail. If he was to be taken from AF-1 in a clandestine manner, that was the decision by his detail. The president was not cowering in a food cart out of fear and demanding to be taken off his plane.

As we all know, this entire episode developed into nothing taking place. The president’s new flight was a safe trip, and the press aboard AF-1 had an uneventful flight. Most did not learn of the ruse until they landed without incident.

So we have a documentary to look forward to, focusing ultimately on nothing taking place. But we will be able to have heavy servings of emotional commentary from those involved as they detail how they rode on a flight…and landed. And lived to tell the un-harrowing tale.

Netflix will have The Decoy Flight available to stream on Friday, September 4.

This July, while flying back from a NATO summit in Turkey, President Trump slipped off Air Force One in a catering truck and secretly boarded a different aircraft — leaving traveling reporters to fly on, unaware the president was no longer with them.

Instadocs: The Decoy Plane,… pic.twitter.com/iuADnXxMoV

— Netflix (@netflix) September 1, 2026

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This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.

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