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The number of major accidents involving military aircraft increases internally in 2024 pentagon The figures show, and a series of high-profile aviation accidents with deaths and loss of aircraft in 2025, suggest that the troubling trend may continue.
Across the Army, the rate of serious accidents per 100,000 flight hours increased 55% in the 2024 budget year compared to four years earlier. Marine Corps saw the largest increase, with its rate almost tripling over the same period.
The data, which was released to Congress by the Defense Department and provided exclusively to The Associated Press, tracks Class A accidents — the most serious accidents, resulting in death or permanent total disability.
One aviation expert said the widespread worsening trends are unlikely to be the result of any single factor, but rather a reflection of many smaller issues that create an unsafe culture. These issues include increased operational demands, risky aircraft like the V-22 Osprey, and disruptions like the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to significant reductions in military flying time.
But with the increasing number of serious accidents, some people in Congress are looking for answers.
The data was released to the senator. elizabeth warrenMassachusetts Democrat, in January when his office asked for the data after a spate of fatal accidents involving V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft. Warren’s office provided the data to the AP, which independently reviewed it.
The data covers the full budget years 2020-2023 and then the first 10 months of the 2024 budget year, through July 31. In those 10 months last year, 25 service members and Defense Department civilian employees were killed and 14 aircraft were destroyed.
“These attrition rates are incredibly disturbing and demand action,” Warren told the AP in an emailed statement. He said legislative changes to make accident reports more accessible are “desperately needed so Congress can understand the root causes of these accidents to save the lives of service members.”
Many military aircraft have been particularly prone to crashes
The Osprey, which flies like a plane but lands like a helicopter, has been one of the most dangerous aircraft, as the AP has reported extensively.
Additionally, new Defense Department data shows that Apache helicopters had nearly 4.5 times the rate of the most serious Category A accidents during the 2024 budget year compared to four years earlier. The C-130 transport aircraft, a workhorse of the military, nearly doubled its speed over the same period, even though it reported being safer in the intervening years.
When the Pentagon was asked about these trends, it did not immediately respond.
navyThis year alone has seen a significant increase in its own aviation accident figures. Naval Security Command reported eight Category A aviation accidents in 2024. In 2025, this total will increase to 14.
Aviation expert and former military pilot John Nance said that the ever-increasing demands on military pilots are playing a major role in the increasing number of accidents.
“Whether we’re talking about the end of Afghanistan, whether we’re talking about deployments to Djibouti, or the back and forth across Saudi Arabia to get to the Emirates, I think as the pace (of military operations) increases, casualties are going to increase,” Nance said.
A series of accidents have been seen this year
Although the data is not released until 2025, there have been several high-profile aviation accidents this year, including an attack on an aircraft carrier at sea and a collision between a military helicopter and a passenger jet. WashingtonDC, in January, which killed 67 people.
The investigation found that the Black Hawk helicopter’s altimeter gauge was broken, the military pilot’s night vision goggles had some problems, and the Federal Aviation Administration ignored warnings about the dangers posed by helicopters in the vicinity of Washington airports.
Unlike their civilian counterparts, military aviators face far less predictability and routine when they fly, Nance said.
“You have aircraft commanders … making decisions based on the best information they’ve got, but in the immediate term there’s a level of uncertainty and a level of unpredictability that is far beyond what commercial airlines have experienced,” he said.
In the spring, the Navy’s USS Harry S. The Truman aircraft carrier lost two F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets in the span of a few weeks – one due to a botched landing and the other after sliding off the ship’s deck and falling into the sea.
In December 2024, the guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg accidentally shot down an F/A-18 from the carrier.
No pilots were killed in any of these incidents. The Navy has not released the results of its investigation into the causes of these accidents.
More recently, four U.S. Army soldiers, who were part of an elite team performing night-time missions, died when their Black Hawk helicopter crashed near a military base in Washington state during a training mission in September.
Then, in October, a fighter jet and a helicopter based on the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz both crashed in the South China Sea within 30 minutes of each other, although no one died.
Nance did not rule out the possibility that the increase in accidents was a downstream effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has left military pilots with less time to fly.
“The safety buffer is affected by a million things,” Nance said. Some things have minor effects and some major. According to him, the pandemic “had a major impact on operational capabilities.”
Warren’s office is now asking the Pentagon for more detailed data on aviation accidents over the longer period from 2019 to 2025, according to a request sent to the Pentagon and reviewed by the AP. The request includes questions about Class A crashes, but also seeks data on less serious Class B and C crashes.
Warren’s office is also asking more questions about how the Army trains its airmen and maintenance workers.