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'Retired pilot' claimed that Trump's plane flew to the island of Epstein 37 times. Here are the facts

    • In August 2025 a Facebook user who said he was a former pilot of Canadian Airlines, that The plane of US President Donald Trump flew to the deceased financier at least 37 times and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's Island.

    • Epstein, who died in prison in 2019, owned the Great St. James and Little St. James Islands, part of the US Virgin Islands. Prosecutors claimed Epstein In minor girls traded for small St. James to hide the abuse of his victims.

    • However, we found no evidence that the claim over the plane from Trump to Little St. James was true. We could not verify that the Facebook user who actually worked the claim actually worked for Canadian Airlines, a courier who acquired Air Canada in 2001. In addition to the claim, the Facebook user shared a photo of himself who bore what a pilot costume seemed to be from the online retailer Amazon.

    • Reporting about Little St. James discovered that guests visited the island by boat or helicopter because it did not have a runway, so that the claim would have flown there from Trump or his companies there, further in discredit or flown there.

    • Trump said in January 2025 that he never visited the island of Epstein.

    In August 2025, a claim (archived) circulated online, reportedly made by a retired pilot in Canadian Airlines, that The plane of US President Donald Trump flew to the deceased financier at least 37 times and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's Island.

    Tom Crosby, the Facebook user who first filed the claim on August 6, 2025, wrote:

    I don't know, but every flight that flies is followed by ATS. Donald Trump's plane flew at least 37 times to the island of Epstein, followed on Radar. Don't mention it. All flights everywhere are saved ten years or more. Retired pilot, first officer of Canadian Airlines Tom Crosby

    (Facebook user Tom Crosby)

    The claim was popular on Facebook (archived). It also circulated on X (archived), threads (archived) and Bluesky (archived). Snopes readers wrote in the question of whether the claim was true.

    However, we have not found any evidence to prove the claim of Crosby and further research that his alleged references have made doubts. Commentators on Crosby's report pointed out that the pin he wore on the attached photo did not look like one that belonged to Canadian Airlines, a courier who acquired Air Canada in 2001. Instead, the pin seemed to get rid of a pilot costume from the online retailer Amazon, which also contained a white shirt with epaulettes such as the One Crosby Wue.

    Commentators also asked for more proof of Crosby's claim, which we did not find in renowned news sources (archived, archived, archived, archived). The claim would have been reported on a large scale if it is true. Crosby claimed that “all flights are stored everywhere for ten years or more”, an explanation that we found difficult to get up.

    We contacted Crosby to ask for proof of his claim and former employment at Canadian Airlines. We have also contacted Air Canada to try to verify Crosby's claimed earlier employment. We have been contacted with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the government agency that regulates civil aviation in the US, to verify Crosby's claims about preserving escape records. We are waiting for answers for our questions.

    Trump said In January 2025 he never visited the island of Epstein, of which prosecutors claimed that the financier used to hide the sex trade and abuse of minor victims. Epstein property The Great St. James and Little St. James Islands on the US Virgin Islands before his death in 2019. He used Little St. James to entertain prominent guests from fields who had politics, entertainment and business and reportedly planned to develop large St. James with houses and other facilities.

    Crosby's Claim has deviated from reality

    During inspection, elements of Crosby's claim seemed to discredit the idea that escape records existed to prove that “Donald Trump's plane” flew to Little St. James Island 37 times.

    Firstly, the Trump organization has several aircraft and helicopters. Trump bought one Boeing 727 in 1997 that had previously flown as part of Trump Shuttle, the short -lived airline of Trump. He then replaced the 727 in 2011 with the current Trump Force One. The Trump organization also had a Cessna Citation X that it sold in May 2024. Crosby did not specify to which aircraft his claim referred to. Moreover, Little St. James Island has no runway. On the contrary, an investigation into visitors to the island through the Tech Magazine that was connected in 2024, it turned out that people arrived on the island, either by helicopter or boat after flying to nearby St. Thomas.

    It was not possible to prove Crosby's secondary claim about “all flights everywhere” that was stored for “ten years or more”. Our investigation showed that the Ministry of Transport required “certified air carriers”, which means that carriers who have been licensed by the DOT to wear passengers or freight to retain “System report of aircraft movements “for just three years. We have not found a specific retention policy for private -Jets outside records with regard to maintenance. “All flights everywhere” was also an extremely broad explanation, because individual countries have individual agencies that regulate air traffic and regulate the storage of records.

    Live data about the movement of private jets are generally public Because the aircraft depends on public systems such as air traffic control, lights and runways to work. Some fly torque sites Combine publicly available data with (sometimes) private data about the ownership of private aircraft to follow famous jets. However, it was unclear at the time of this writing how long the FAA, the agency that facilitates the collection of this data, has retained.

    Originator of Claim followed 'Anti-Trump' Super Pac

    Although our research found no evidence to support Crosby's claim, the profile it seemed to be really posted seemed to be that it was a real person in contrast to AI Slop accounts that demonstrably spread false claims of anonymous platforms.

    Crosby previously posted (archived) photos of himself who showed the same person on the photo of August 6. The account also tagged friends and relatives in messages and consistently placed about the same hobbies – usually signs that a real person is behind an account.

    Crosby made about several times on 6 August the same claim (archived, archived), based on local time in Regina, Saskatchewan, where his Facebook profile said he was located. On July 13, Crosby made a similar claim (archived) that “we also have every flight log or boat that went to the island of Epstein.” Crosby placed these claims on different groups with regard to the Meidas Touch News Network, an independent network that described itself as 'pro-democracy'. The network grew from a super PAC that previously supported the campaign of former US President Joe Biden.

    On February 15, 2025, Crosby (archived) placed that he was the “Webmaster of the Meidas Touch News Network”. Crosby was a manager of at least two Facebook groups related to the Meidas Touch News Network. Rolling Stone described Meidas Touch in 2021 as “Anti-Trump”.

    In short …

    Although speculation Epstein and Little St. James Island continues to surround, we found no proof of the specific claim that “Donald Trump's plane” flew to the small St. James Island 37 times.

    We found no evidence that Tom Crosby, who posted the claim on pages with regard to the “Anti-Trump” News Network Meidas Touch, was actually employed by the Canadian airlines as he claimed in his position. Crosby wore a pin that was identical to a pin in a pilot costume that was sold by Amazon in an image that accompanies the claim.

    Although at the time we have no primary evidence in the form of flight logbooks for Trump's plane, we know that aircraft could not land on Little St. James, but rather on nearby St. Thomas Landen. Whether Trump was on board or not, his plane could not have landed on Little St. James Island, making 37 flights to that destination unlikely.

    Trump said in January 2025 that he had never visited Epstein's Island. There had been no public evidence for the opposite at the time of this writing.

    Sources:

    “14 CFR § 249.20 – Maintaining records by certified air carriers.” Lii/Legal Information Institute, https://www.la.cornell.edu/cfr/text/14/249.20. Visited on August 8, 2025.

    14 CFR 91.417 – Maintenance records. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/part-91/section-91.417. Visited on August 8, 2025.

    “About us.” Meidastouch News, https://meidasnews.com/page/about-us. Visited on August 8, 2025.

    Binqilin Pilot Captain Costume Kit Aviator Glasses Badge Hat & Tie Set Pilot Jess Up accessory set: Amazon.co.uk: Toys & Games. https://www.amazon.co.uk/binqilin-captain-costume-aviator-accessory/dp/b0bymzbc14. Visited on August 8, 2025.

    “Boeing 727 VP-BDJ: the original Trump Force One.” Motoart Planetags, 14 Jun. 2019, https://planetags.com/blogs/planetags-blog/boeing-727-vp-bdj-the-original trump-force-one.

    Hettena, Seth. “The problem with Meidastouch.” Rolling Stone, 8 April 2021, https://archive.ph/yrlnb#Selection-1495.0-1498.0.

    “The private islands of Jeffrey Epstein are offered for sale for $ 125 million.” BBC News, 24 March 2022. www.bbc.co.uk, https://www.bbc.com/news/business-60856925.

    Jones, Michael Grabell, Sebastian. “Off the radar: private aircraft hidden from public image.” Propublica, 8 April 2010, https://www.propublicica.org/article/off-the-adar-private-Planes-Hidden-from-Public-View-040810.

    Shalal, Andrea and Nandita Bose. “Trump says he has rejected invitation for the island of Epstein.” Reuters, July 29, 2025. Www.reuters.com, https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-says-he-turned-down-invitation-epsteins-island-2025-07-28/.

    Shepardson, David. “FAA is going to protect the private information of aircraft.” Reuters, 28 March 2025. www.reuters.com, https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/faa-moves-protect-arcraft-earcraft-ewaren-word-inin-information-2025-03-28/.

    Thompson, Polly. “Trump apparently sold one of his private jets to a large Republican donor.” Business Insider, 30 May 2024, https://archive.ph/XTR8D#Selection-1551.0-1564.0.

    Wired. “We followed every visitor to Epstein Island | Wired.” Youtube, November 22, 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJPHQ-EZ0NC&T=141S.