The pilot, a member of the Air Force’s Thunderbirds aerobatics team, managed to safely eject
A US F-16C crashed during a training mission over California on Wednesday morning, the Air Force reported.
The plane came down in an unpopulated desert area around 130 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles in a zone used for live weapons testing, Stars and Stripes military news outlet said on Wednesday.
A video circulating on social media purports to show a fireball rising from the crash site, with the pilot parachuting down some distance away.
According to the US Air Force, the plane belonged to its premier air demonstration squadron.
“On Dec. 3, 2025, at approximately 10:45 am, a pilot from the US Air Force Air Demonstration Team, the Thunderbirds, safely ejected from an F-16C Fighting Falcon during a training mission over controlled airspace in California,” a USAF spokesperson said in a statement.
The pilot was in stable condition and received follow-up care, they added.
🇺🇸⚡️- A U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds F-16 from the air show demonstration team has crashed in California during training. The pilot was able to safely eject. pic.twitter.com/0IkWFABild
— Rerum Novarum // Intel, Breaking News, and Alerts (@officialrnintel) December 4, 2025
Earlier this year, a Polish Air Force F-16 pilot belonging to the nation’s Tiger Demo aerobatic team died in a crash during the Radom Air Show after attempting a high-speed barrel roll maneuver.
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