A Spanish Air Force F-18 fighter jet crashed on Friday near Perales de Alfambra in the Aragon region, resulting in the death of the pilot, Lieutenant Colonel Pablo Estrada Martin, the Air Force confirmed.
The incident occurred shortly after 1 p.m. local time (11 a.m. GMT) under currently unclear circumstances. Lieutenant Colonel Estrada, despite his extensive experience with over 1,500 hours of flight time on F-18s, was unable to eject from the aircraft.
The Spanish Air Force announced the tragic news on social media platform X, while the Ministry of Defense expressed its condolences. Estrada had been stationed at the Torrejon de Ardoz airbase, located near Madrid.
Emergency response teams, including the Teruel Provincial Council Fire Brigade, Civil Guard, Civil Protection, and Aragon’s Fire Extinguishing Service, were immediately dispatched to the crash site.
This marks the latest in a series of F-18 accidents for the Spanish Air Force, which has lost four pilots in various incidents since the aircraft was introduced in 1986. The most recent crash before this occurred in May 2023, when an F-18 crashed during takeoff in Zaragoza, though in that case, the pilot successfully ejected.
