The Worst F-35 Crashes (And Why They Happened)

The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning is widely thought to be one of the most advanced jet fighters on the planet. A multirole combat aircraft designed to tackle various types of missions, the aircraft entered service nearly two decades ago — in 2006 — and has been one of the mainstays of the United States Armed Forces since then. The F-35 is also used by several allies of the United States; including the United Kingdom, Israel, Greenland, Japan, and Singapore. The aircraft is known for its stealth capabilities and is expected to remain in service for several decades.

While generally considered a safe aircraft, the F-35's service history remained unblemished for the first few years of its service. Of late, however, there has been a steady increase in air crashes involving the F-35 Lightning, raising questions about the plane's longevity and reliability.

The most recent crash involving the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lighting happened on January 28, 2025, during a training mission at Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska. Officials revealed that this crash resulted from an "inflight malfunction" while the pilot attempted to land the aircraft. Investigations are attempting to ascertain the cause of the crash.

The first significant incident with the F-35 was reported in 2014 when a US Air Force F-35 encountered a destructive engine fire caused by excessive rubbing of the fan blades inside the engine. The major fire incident resulted in the total loss of the aircraft. There was another fire in 2016, which also resulted in an United States Marine Corps F-35 being destroyed by fire.

It wasn't until 2018 that the Lockheed Martin F-35 started becoming involved in air crashes.

The first crash involving an F-35 dates back to September 28, 2018, when an F-35 crash landed near Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort in South Carolina. Few details of the crash are available in the public domain. What we do know, however, is that the pilot was able to eject right before the crash safely. Investigations would later reveal the cause of the crash to be a "fuel tube failure" on the engine. The aircraft involved in the crash was withdrawn from service, and parts of the airframe are currently being used as a training aid.

Next year, in 2019, the first fatality from an F-35 crash was recorded after a Japanese-built F-35 crashed into the ocean during a training flight. The pilot of the affected aircraft was 41-year-old Maj. Akinori Hosomi. The cause of the crash was reported to be a pilot error caused by spatial disorientation.

2020 was a particularly troubling year for the F-35 Lightning, with two major crashes resulting in the total loss of both aircraft. The first incident occurred on May 19, 2020, during a training sortie at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. The jet crashed upon landing, caught fire, and was completely destroyed. Investigators identified excessive landing speed as the primary cause, with additional contributing factors including flaws in flight control logic, issues with the helmet-mounted display, malfunctions in the jet's oxygen system, and shortcomings in simulator training.

Four months later, on September 29, 2020, another F-35 crashed after making contact with a KC-130J — a variant of the C-130 —  during an air-to-air refueling session near Naval Air Facility El Centro. The pilot was able to safely eject before the plane crashed.

On November 17, 2021, a Royal Air Force F-35 taking off from the HMS Queen Elizabeth, operating in the Mediterranean Sea, plunged into the ocean right after take off. The pilot was able to eject safely, and investigations would later reveal that the crash was caused after personnel failed to remove a protective engine cover from the intake duct before the aircraft was cleared for take off.

2022 was also a disastrous year as far as the F-35 is concerned, with as many as five total accidents being reported involving the aircraft. Three of those crashes resulted in a total write-off. The first of these major crashes happened on January 2, 2022, and involved a South Korean F-35. The cause of the crash was a landing gear malfunction, leading to an F-35 making an emergency belly landing. Just 20 days later, on January 24, 2022, a U.S. Navy F-35 crashed while attempting to land on the USS Carl Vinson operating in the South China Sea. Thankfully, the pilot was able to safely eject before the aircraft ended up in the ocean. Seven sailors onboard the USS Carl Vinson were injured in the incident.

Towards the end of 2022 in October, another F-35 crashed after being caught in the wake turbulence of a recently landed aircraft. The resulting airflow disturbance fed erroneous data to the jet's air data application (ADA), causing its flight controls to misinterpret pilot inputs. With the aircraft already at low altitude and low airspeed, these factors led to an uncontrollable descent and a crash landing that destroyed the jet. Fortunately, the pilot ejected safely.

While 2023 was crash-free, in 2024, two more major F-35 crashes occurred, both resulting in the total loss of the aircraft.