In July 2026, President Trump disappeared without anyone noticing. Flying back from a NATO summit in Turkey, he boarded Air Force One, then slipped off the plane into a catering truck, and secretly boarded a different aircraft — leaving traveling reporters to fly on, unaware the president was no longer with them. When the story broke, it baffled the public and press alike, spawning viral videos, memes, and competing theories as everyone tried to make sense of it.
The latest installment of Instadocs, now streaming, pieces together what really happened, as told by the people who were there.
Here’s everything to know about Instadocs: The Decoy Plane.
Instadocs: The Decoy Plane unpacks the July 2026 incident through the eyes of the traveling press corps with firsthand accounts from Gram Slattery, a White House reporter for Reuters; Alex Brandon, a White House photographer for The Associated Press; plus perspectives from Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter Carol Leonnig of MS NOW; The Washington Post’s Dan Lamothe, who was part of the reporting team that broke the story; former Secret Service agent Robert McDonald; and former Air Force One crew member Wanda Joell. 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.
Instadocs: The Decoy Plane premiered on Friday, Sept. 4. Stream it now.
The documentary features interviews with:
Instadocs is Netflix’s quick-turn documentary series that moves at the speed of the story and arrives at the height of the conversation. The Decoy Plane is the third installment in the series; the first two — Instadocs: Alex Murdaugh, Unconvicted, and Instadocs: The Prediction Games — are also available to stream now. Learn more about the series here.
Instadocs: The Decoy Plane is produced by Words + Pictures. Steve Yaccino serves as showrunner. Executive producers are Josh Tyrangiel, Connor Schell, Steve Yaccino, Libby Geist, Aaron Cohen, and Alexa Conway, with supervising producers Amel Guettatfi and Rakhee Jethwa.
