#BREAKINGNEWS: San Bernardino County firefighters responding to reports of crash possibly involving F-16 aircraft near China Lake https://t.co/Dh7bmvLASE
— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) December 3, 2025
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
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
SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY, Calif. — Firefighters in California’s San Bernardino County responded to a crash near China Lake that involved an F-16 fighter jet.
The incident reportedly happened near Trona Airport, close to the San Bernardino/Inyo County line.
At about 10:45 a.m., a “Thunderbird pilot ejected safely from a F-16C Fighting Falcon aircraft during a training mission over controlled airspace,” the U.S. Air Force said in a statement.