Bizjet Accident Fatalities Soar in First Half of 2025

Eighteen fatal turbine business aircraft accidents worldwide claimed the lives of 81 passengers and crew in the first half, up from 17 fatal accidents and 54 fatalities in the first six months of 2024, according to preliminary data gathered by BJT.

Notably, U.S.-registered business jets made up the only segment to complete the first six months with fewer fatalities than in the same period last year. Nine people lost their lives in three U.S.-registered business jet accidents last year versus eight people who died—also in three accidents—this year.

On February 10,  a parked Gulfstream G200 was struck by a U.S.-registered Learjet 35A that veered off the runway while landing in Scottsdale, Arizona, killing the Learjet pilot. Another fatal accident involving an N-numbered business jet occurred on March 13, when a Cessna Citation CJ2 on a planned ferry flight made a right turn and climbed to about 950 feet after takeoff before it began a rapid descent into the ground. The sole pilot aboard died. On May 22, a Citation S550 was destroyed when it crashed on an approach near San Diego. The pilot and five passengers were killed. All three accidents occurred under Part 91.

Four accidents of non-U.S.-registered business jets took the lives of 15 in the first half, compared with a single crash that was fatal to two people in the same period of 2024. On Jan. 9, 2025, a privately operated, Brazilian-registered CitationJet CJ1+ overshot the runway on landing, broke up, and caught fire, resulting in the loss of the pilot’s life. On January 29, a Venezuelan government-operated Citation S/II crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all three occupants.

Two pilots and four passengers died on January 31, when a chartered Mexico-registered Learjet 55 air ambulance crashed shortly after takeoff from a Philadelphia airport on a planned flight to Mexico. In addition to the six fatalities aboard the twinjet, one person on the ground was killed. On June 3, a Venezuela-registered Citation I crashed in the mountains after taking off from Caracas, killing all five aboard.

Five fatal accidents of U.S.-registered business turboprops resulted in 18 deaths in the first half, compared with seven deaths in four accidents in the same period last year. Meanwhile, half of the 40 fatalities from six accidents involving non-N-numbered business turboprops in the first six months included the 20 who died when their chartered Ugandan-registered Beech 1900D crashed in South Sudan.