Aircraft crash videos

The Canadair CL-215 crashed shortly after dropping a load of water over a forest fire near Karystos, Grece, on July 25th 2023. The right-hand wing tip's float collides with a tree, causing it to break off and thrusting the aircraft into an uncontrolled right turn. The ensuing impact with the terrain results in a devastating fireball. Both occupants were killed in the accident. The CL-215 was attached to the Greek Air Force.

The Russian Air Force SU-34 fighter jet crashed into a residential building in the city of Yeysk, on October 17th 2022. Both pilots ejected seconds before the crash. However, 15 persons have died in the building. According to Russian officials, it was a training flight, and the accident results from an engine fire shortly after takeoff. The plane crashed about 4 km east from the end of the runway of Yeysk Airport.

August 17th 2021 - This prototype of the Ilyushin Il-112V military transport aircraft took off from Kubinka Air Base, Russia, for a test flight. A fire developed in the right engine 4 minutes later. The plane nose dropped while the aircraft rolled inverted at low altitude. The plane crashed in a wooded area. All the three occupants were killed.

Eight sailors were injured aboard the USS Eisenhower when an arresting cable snapped during an E-2C Hawkeye's landing in March 2016. The Hawkeye plunged off the edge, getting airborne again about 10 to 20 feet above the water.
The cause of the accident is a human error: sailors failed to set up the arresting cable correctly, which left the arresting gear engine unable to provide enough load to stop the Hawkeye landing on deck. The No. 4 wire snapped and swung across the flight deck, hitting eight sailors and causing serious and minor injuries. The incident required six medical evacuations of eight injured sailors and caused more than $200,000 of damages to the carrier and aircraft on deck.

The pilot of this Mirage 2000 has forgotten to get the landing gear down before landing. It belly-landed on the runway and skidded until the aircraft stopped. The pilot escaped safely, but it was probably a blow in its ego.

January 22nd, 2019 - Murmansk Region, Russia - The Russian Tu-22 supersonic bomber was attempting to land at Olenia airbase after a training sortie in very low visibility conditions. The heavy snowfalls were contributing to the low visibility. While the aircraft is a few feet above the runway, the pilot should flare to reduce the descent rate. But this maneuver is not done. The plane hits the runway hard, bounces and breaks in two. Four crew members were onboard: three were killed and the fourth one received serious injuries.

The Libyan Air Force MiG-21 fighter jet crashed in a residential part of the city of Tobruk, Libya, in September 2014. The pilot was killed. On ground, two people were killed and nine injured. The crashed is due to a technical failure.

Mirage 2000-D crash seen from inside. The fighter belonging to the French Air Force crashed in January 1997, near Nancy air base, France. The plane developed engine problems, and the crew tried to glide to their base. But they didn’t make it, and ejected at only 80 ft (25 meters) above ground, seconds before the crash.

This RAF (Royal Air Force) Harrier crash-landed at Kandahar airfield, Afghanistan, in May 2009. The British pilot ejected while the plane was sliding and burning on the runway. He suffered minor injuries.

March 19th 2011 - This Mig-23 Flogger from the Libyan Air Force is shot down in the sky over the eastern city Benghazi (Libya), and crashed. The pilot ejected.

This Canadian Forces F-18 Hornet fighter jet crashed on July 23rd 2010 during a practice session for an air show at the Lethbridge Airport, in the western province of Alberta, Canada. The pilot ejected about 30 meters from ground, less than 3 seconds before the jet crashed. The pilot received minor injuries.

The plane stalls seconds after takeoff from a carrier, and crashed in the water.

The arresting cable breaks when this US F-18 Hornet lands in the USS George Washington carrier on September 11th 2003.
The plane landed on the last arresting cable. The cable stretched to the breaking point, and broke, and the plane ended in the water. The cable snapping back at more than 100 mph injured seven crew members on the deck, and two of them must be evacuted. The pilot safely ejected.

Iran Air Force Sukhoi Su-24 jet crashes on landing at Tehran Mehrabad International Airport after reporting a technical problem.

20 September 1995 – This American F-14A performs a fly-by over the carrier USS John Paul Jones, when the plane suddenly explodes in flight. The pilot pulled the stick too much, and entered in a fatal high g-load maneuver. G forces were so much that the plane disintegrated.

Air to Air refuelling is known as one of the most difficult manoeuvre in aviation. The tanker aircraft extents the hose and drogue, and the fighter must catch the drogue with its receptacle. But sometimes, it goes terribly wrong, as shown in this video.

The left main landing gear of this F-15 collapsed after landing, and the plane veered off the runway.

The pilot of a fighter aircraft is on short final when he realises in the last seconds that another plane is on the runway. This video sends chills down the spine.

A Sukhoi Su33 rolls off of the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier in a failed landing and goes into the drink. The pilot ejected.

In 1955, an F7U Cutlass dramatically missed its landing on USS Hancock. The plane approached too low and stroke the ramp of the carrier. The pilot was killed, and 3 people on the deck were also killed by burning jet fuel.

This stealth B-2 bomber crashed during takeoff from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam on February 23rd 2008.
The Air Force's Air Combat Command issued a report blaming the crash on three of the plane's 24 sensors being rendered inoperative due to moisture and feeding bad information to the on-board computer about the plane's altitude and speed. The $1.4 billion aircraft’s computer mistakenly thought the plane was pointed down, generating a command for the nose to suddenly jerk up and causing its left wing to scrape the runway. The two pilots couldn't regain control of the bomber and ejected safely.

This US Air Force C-130 landing is so violent that the wings bend and break apart, resulting in a gigantic fuel leakage.

The port side main wheel is missing from this F4D Skyray as it lands on a carrier.

28 January 2006, approximately 120 miles southeast of Brisbane, Australia - A plane missed its landing by night on the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, and exploded. The pilot ejected.

In May 2005, This Mig 29 engine suddenly burst into flames while the plane was performing a display at an airshow. An engine blade blocked the engine resulting in the engine explosion. The pilot safely ejected and the plane crashed.

This spectacular accident illustrates the danger of birds for airplane. The video was shot from a Hawk cockpit, on May 14th 2004, at Moose Jaw, SK, Canada. One crewmember was seriously injured and the other received minor injuries.
Shortly after lift-off, a bird is ingested in the engine. This was followed immediately by audio and caption engine warnings and high engine temperature indication. The aircraft reached a maximum altitude of approximately 1700 ft above ground level, and before starting to loose altitude. Then, both crewmembers ejected.

During the take-off, the pilot retracted the landing gear of his Mig 29 too early, with catastrophic results.

This Blackburn Buccaneer of the Royal Air Force performs a perfect partial gear up landing. The plane skids on the runway and come to a stop in the grass.

On July 15th 2006, this RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force) F-111 experienced landing gear troubles and performed a successful belly landing.

This Vought A-7 Corsair II suffered a brake failure, causing it to roll off the carrier deck. The pilot ejected safely.

This USAF Hercules C-130 crashed on July 1st, 1987 during a military exercise at Fort Bragg, narrowly missing spectators seconds before it crashed and burst into flames, killing four crewmen as well as a soldier on the ground. Two other crewmen were injured.
The plane was displaying a low level airdrop technique in which a parachute is used to pull a tank out the rear cargo door while the plane is a few feet above the ground, but the crew pulled up too late and hit the ground.

On December 4th 1996, this F-14 carrier landing went terribly wrong. The plane was approaching too low, hit the ramp and exploded. The RIO survived, but the pilot was killed.

This F-18 had to land gear up following a technical failure. It hit hardly the ground and the plane skidded off the runway. The pilot escaped without major injury.

On December 30th, 1970, during flight tests, this Tomcat experienced its first hydraulic failure. The pilot lost control and had to eject . The plane crashed not far away from its base.

This Korean F-16C crashed on February 26th, 2002. Fire broke out after takeoff from Sosan air base (South Korea). The pilot ejected safely, and the F16 came down in a rice patty. The crash was caused by material defects in the engine blades.

At the beginning of the Second World War, British invented the bouncing bomb to destroy enemy dams and battleships. To drop such bombs, the airplane had to fly exactly 20 meters above water at 400 km/h.
This video shows a bouncing bomb test that ended badly. The bomb bounced a bit too high on the water, and hit the tail of the plane. It resulted in a dramatic crash.
Click hereafter for history, pictures and videos of the Bouncing Bombs.

At the beginning of the Second World War, British invented the bouncing bomb to destroy enemy dams and battleships. To drop such bombs, the airplane had to fly exactly 20 meters above water at 400 km/h.
In this video, the bomber is damage by a water jet caused by the bomb impact on the water. Fortunately, the crew managed to keep the control of the plane.
Click hereafter for history, pictures and videos of the Bouncing Bombs.

This Hercules C130 went down on June 17th (2002) while it was dropping fire retardant material on a 10,000 acre forest fire near Walker, California. The wings suddenly snapped off and the aircraft crashed near a commercial area. All the 3 crew members were killed.
See also the analysis of this Hercules C130 tanker crash.

During the Royal International Air Tattoo airshow at Fairford (in 2002), this Italian G.222 performs a heavy landing. The nose landing gear collapses, igniting a fire. Fortunately, the fire is rapidly extinguished by the emergency services.

On the 24th of June 1994, Czar 52, a B-52H assigned to the 325th Bomb Squadron, 92d Bomb Wing, Fairchild Air Force Base, WA, was practicing maneuvers for an upcoming airshow. The aircrew had planned and briefed a profile, through the Wing Commander level, that grossly exceeded aircraft and regulatory limitations.
Upon preparing to land at the end of the practice airshow profile, the crew was required to execute a "go-around" or missed approach because of another aircraft on the runway. At mid-field, Czar 52 began a tight 360 degree left turn around the control tower at only 250 feet altitude above ground level (AGL). Approximately three quarters of the way through the turn, the aircraft banked past 90 degrees, stalled, clipped a power line with the left wing and crashed. There were no survivors out of a crew of four field grade officers.

On February 12, 2002, a Mirage 2000 crashed during a training flight on the BA 115 military base (Orange, France). The crew was preparing an alpha demonstration (spectacular maneuvers performed to show the fighter performances), but descended too low and the nozzles impacted the runway. It just had enough power to slightly climb, allowing the crew to eject.

The collision happened over the Yellow Sea off the West coast of South Korea on December 15, 1982. The USAF F-16 collided with a USMC F-4 Phantom II, shearing off the end of the wing on the F-16 (making the plane uncontrollable) and damaging the vertical tail of the F-4. The pilot ejected from the F-16 and was unhurt. The plane slowly drifted down and impact the ground. The Phantom was patched up by the USMC.
The video is taken from the F16 cockpit.

The prototype of the Gripen wasn't so successful: it crashed on his sixth flight, on February 2, 1989 at Linköping. The pilot flew for the first time with the Gripen, he had some problems with the stability (fly-by-wire) of the fighter. During the landing he hit with his left-wing the runway and crashed. The pilot had only a broken elbow.

The bomb dropped by this F18 Hornet hit the A-4 Skyhawk which was flying next to the F18. The A-4 burst into flame after the impact. Fortunately, the pilot managed to eject from his fighter.

On April 25th 1992, this F-22 prototype crashes on the runway at the Edwards Air Force Base. The plane pitches forward and back 40 feet (12 m) above the runway, lands hardly without gear down, slides 8000 feet (2400 m), and partially burns. The pilot was not seriously hurt.
Investigations showed that the accident was caused by Pilot Induced Oscillations (PIO happens when the flight controls reacts too slowly in regards to the pilot orders).