For four seasons, the Discovery Channel series Airplane Repo brought viewers into the world of airplane repossessions. The cast was made up of a group of agents who had been hired by financial institutions to recover airplanes from people who had failed to make their payments. Although the series has been off the air for nearly a decade, a recent marathon has people talking about it again. Despite the show’s high entertainment value, people can’t help but wonder if the scenarios were real or fabricated for the sake of TV. They say seeing is believing, reality TV has proven that you can’t always trust what’s right in front of you face. Is Airplane Repo fake? Let’s get into it.
How Did Airline Repo Work?
For those who aren’t super familiar with Airline Repo, I thought it’s be helpful to provide a quick run down on how the show works. During each episode, the agents get a call from a financial institution that is looking to have an airplane (or sometimes other luxury item) repossessed due to none payment. The agents are then tasked with actually locating the plane and and taking possession. Although this may sound pretty straight forward, looking the aircrafts often proved to be a very difficult challenge. After all, if you knew that someone was coming to take something from you you’d probably try to put it somewhere they’ve never think to look.
Is The Show Fake?
When Airplane Repo was released in 2010, things in the reality TV world were a little different. While it was clear that some shows were fake, there was still hope that shows like Airplane Repo were keeping it real. Unfortunately, there’s a very good chance that things on the series weren’t exactly what they seemed. While the network has never (and probably will never) addressed the validity of the show, several internet users claim to know that it was staged.
A user named SixPapaCharlie from Pilots of America stated, “They [Airplane Repo] called my friend to see if they could use his plane next week for an episode they are filming.” A user on Reddit named UPGRAYED-D also shared a similar experience: “they usually get delivered right back to the owners after they borrow them for a shoot. The shows a reenactment but if your a pilot you know how impossible it would be to film all that in real life. Kevin and Mike are both real Aviation Repo guys but in real life it’s more complicated…As you can imagine they have contracts not allowing them to admit its re-enacted publicly. But now that the shows over I’m not under any contracts and think it’s better to admit the truth vs denying it.”
Denial Of Allegations
Despite rumors from viewers about the show being fake, cast member Ken Cage completely denies any allegations about the show being scripted or fake in any way. He told Corporate Jet Investor, “First of all, look me up and you will see that I do this for a living. Secondly, it’s a TV show. We film things how they happen, but obviously people don’t want their faces shown. We just cannot show you everything live – it’s not legal, for a start – so certain things have had to be shot again.” It’s important to note that there is at least some truth to Ken’s statement. He really does work for a company called International Recovery Group which specializes in repossessions.
Regardless, we’ll probably never know the entire truth. At the end of the day, Airplane Repo is probably just like every other reality show. While the series may not have been scripted, scenes and situations were likely manipulated in a way that would make them more exciting for TV. Even if the show was fake it certainly didn’t take anything away from its entertainment value.
Could Airline Repo Ever Come Back?
When the show as canceled, there was initially some discussion about having it brought back by the network or made into a web series. In 2017, cast members Ken Cage and Danny Thompson started a GoFundMe account to raise money so that they could continue to shoot episodes on their own. Unfortunately for all the Airplane Repo fans out there, it doesn’t look like that project ever came to fruition. Outside of that, we haven’t been able to find any indication that the show will ever make a return. On the bright side, however, old episodes are still available to watch on the Discovery website.
Follow Us
