Washington– Internal Pentagon figures show the number of major accidents involving military aircraft rose in 2024, and a series of high-profile aviation accidents with deaths and aircraft lost in 2025 suggests this troubling trend may continue.
Across the Army, the serious accident rate per 100,000 flight hours rose 55% in Budget 2024 from four years earlier. The Marine Corps saw the highest increase, nearly tripling its rate over the same period.
The data, which the Defense Department released to Congress and was provided exclusively to The Associated Press, tracks Category A accidents — the most serious accidents, which result in death or permanent total disability.
One aviation expert noted that broader deterioration trends are unlikely to be the result of a single factor, but rather a reflection of several smaller issues that accumulate to create an unsafe culture. These issues include increased operational requirements, More dangerous planes like the V-22 Osprey and interruptions such as the COVID-19 pandemic, which has significantly reduced flying time across the military.
But the growing number of serious incidents has some in Congress searching for answers.
The data was released to Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, in January after her office requested the numbers following a series of fatal mishaps involving a V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor plane. Warren’s office provided the data to the AP, which independently reviewed it.
The statistics cover the full budget years 2020-2023 and then the first 10 months of budget year 2024, through July 31. In those 10 months last year, 25 service members and DoD civilian employees were killed and 14 aircraft were destroyed.
“These incident rates are incredibly alarming and require action,” Warren told the AP in an emailed statement. She said legislative changes to make incident reporting more accessible “are urgently needed so that Congress can understand the root causes of these incidents to save the lives of service members.”
The Osprey, which flies like a plane but turns to land like a helicopter, is among the most dangerous aircraft, the Associated Press reported. It has been widely reported.
Additionally, new Department of Defense data shows that Apache helicopters were involved in about 4.5 times the rate of most serious Class A accidents during the 2024 budget year compared to four years prior. The C-130 transport aircraft, the Army’s workhorse, has nearly doubled its flight rate over the same period, even with safer years announced in between.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond when asked about these trends.
Marine data On its own aviation accidents show a noticeable increase this year. Naval Safety Command reported eight Class I aviation accidents in 2024. In 2025, that total rose to 14.
Aviation expert and former military pilot John Nance said the ever-increasing demands on military pilots likely play a major role in the growing number of mishaps.
“Whether we’re talking about the end of Afghanistan, or we’re talking about deployments to Djibouti, or going back and forth through Saudi Arabia to get to the UAE, I think as the pace of (military operations) accelerates, the unfortunate incidents will increase,” Nance said.
Although the data doesn’t last until 2025, there have been several high-profile aviation incidents this year, including a wave of aircraft carriers at sea and a collision between an Army helicopter and a passenger jet over Washington, D.C., in January. Which claimed the lives of 67 people.
Investigations found That the Black Hawk helicopter’s altimeter had broken, there it was Problems with the military pilot Night vision goggles The Federal Aviation Administration did not address warnings about the dangers posed by helicopters in the area around the Washington airport.
Unlike their civilian counterparts, military pilots face much less predictability and routine when they fly, Nance said.
“You have aircraft commanders… making decisions based on the best information they have, but on a real-time basis, and there is a level of uncertainty and a level of unpredictability that far exceeds anything that commercial airlines face,” he added.
In the spring, the Navy aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman Two F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets were lost Within a few weeks, one had a bad landing and the other slid overboard and He fell into the sea.
In December 2024, the guided missile cruiser USS Gettysburg An F/A-18 was accidentally shot down From the carrier.
No pilot was killed in any of these episodes. The Navy did not publish the results of investigations into the causes of these unfortunate incidents.
Recently, four US Army soldiers who were part of an elite team flying night missions died when their Black Hawk helicopter crashed. Crashed near a military base in Washington state While on a training mission in September.
Then, in October, a fighter jet and a helicopter were stationed off the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz. It crashed into the South China Sea within 30 minutes each other, although no one was killed.
Nance did not rule out the possibility that this rise in mishaps was the ultimate effect of the Covid-19 pandemic, when military pilots had much less flying time.
“The safety barrier is affected by millions of things,” Nance said. Some things have small effects and others have large effects. According to him, the pandemic “had a significant impact on operational capabilities.”
Warren’s office is now requesting more detailed numbers from the Pentagon on aviation accidents and over a longer period of time, from 2019 to 2025, according to a request sent to the Pentagon and reviewed by the AP. The request includes questions about Class A accidents but requests data about less serious Class B and C accidents as well.
Warren’s office is also asking more questions about how the military trains aircrews and maintenance personnel.