The pilot of a U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds F-16C Fighting Falcon is in a stable condition after ejecting from the aircraft before it crashed into a lakebed near Trona, California.
Reports first emerged of the Dec. 3, 2025 crash from local news and aviation enthusiasts, with many details at the time remaining unconfirmed. Eyewitnesses said they had seen the parachute from the ejection seat deploy, while the aircraft itself crashed into the ground and exploded.
This was then corroborated by images posted on social media.
Reports of an F-16C Fighting Falcon from the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds crashed near Trona Airport, south of Death Valley, California. The pilot reportedly ejected safely, suffered minor injuries, and was taken to a Ridgecrest hospital. pic.twitter.com/Nl9xRjcC6G
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) December 3, 2025
Shortly after, at 20:41 UTC (12:41 local time), an official statement was released by the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds display team via social media. It confirmed that an incident had taken place at approximately 10:45 local time, noting that the pilot successfully ejected and is in a stable condition receiving follow-on care.
— Thunderbirds (@AFThunderbirds) December 3, 2025
No details were released as to the pilot’s identity or their place in the team’s formation, though aviation enthusiasts who witnessed the incident have said it was Thunderbird 5. As the team are still in their pre-season training phase we do not currently know who is flying in that position. The crash occurred during a training exercise alongside the rest of the team.
F16 Thunderbird 5 photographed with its last takeoff before it crashed in Trona, CA. Insane to see six of them take off from Nellis and only five returned. I’ll try to post the images later of the Thunderbird’s last takeoff. This is just a picture of the screen from my camera pic.twitter.com/rJaIfXpLHN
— Kelvin Cheng (@kelvinkccheng) December 3, 2025
Thunderbird 5 is the team’s lead solo pilot, working closely with Thunderbird 6 – the opposing solo pilot – to fly some of the most iconic maneuvers of the Thunderbirds display. While the four other jets fly various formation passes and breaks, the solo pilots fly high speed aerobatics with plenty of crossover passes and mirror passes.
Given the high-speed, low level, and extremely aerobatic nature of the team’s displays, crashes – including fatal ones – have not been uncommon through their history. An investigation into this incident is already underway.
TRONA (Update): #SBCoFD assisting China Lake emergency resources with fire suppression stemming from a downed aircraft in the dry lake bed near Trona. Solo occupant was pilot, who was treated and transported by on scene personnel for non life-threatening injuries and is being…
— San Bernardino County Fire (@SBCOUNTYFIRE) December 3, 2025
According to the San Bernardino County Fire Protection District, the aircraft crashed near the border between San Bernardino and Inyo counties. Emergency services from Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, located to the west, assumed command of the incident scene in coordination with the civilian agencies.
This is a developing story, updates will be provided if further information becomes available.