At around 3 p.m. on May 14, 2025, a Japan Air Self-Defense Force T-4 trainer vanished from radar over a farm reservoir in Inuyama, Aichi Prefecture. Ten minutes later, according to a representative of the Museum Meiji-mura nearby, an explosion rang out. Visitors told staff that “something like an airplane fell.”
The jet had lifted off from Komaki Air Base with two crew aboard, bound for Nyutabaru Air Base in Miyazaki Prefecture, the Defense Ministry said. It went down at Iruka-ike pond, one of the largest agricultural reservoirs in Japan, roughly 6 kilometers southeast of Meitetsu Inuyama Station.
Rescuers raced to the scene but could not find the two crew members at first, the Asahi Shimbun reported. Aichi prefectural police said they knew of no civilian casualties.
What the neighbours heard
The pond sits beside a popular tourist museum and Inuyama Municipal Ikeno Elementary School, where classes were in session. “Some of the children seemed to have heard a ‘boom’ sound,” the vice principal said. Teachers checked on the pupils and then escorted them out of the building.
A boat-rental worker at the pond described “a tremendous noise” reported by customers coming back in. A 59-year-old woman working at a nearby office said it sounded as if thunder had struck. Then came the sirens. “I was surprised because it is usually a quiet place,” she said.
Days of searching
By Thursday, aerial, underwater and ground teams had pulled a seat, other pieces of the aircraft and some of the crew’s equipment, including part of a helmet, from the reservoir, Defense Ministry officials told reporters. Oil slicks had been seen on the surface. Defense Minister Gen Nakatani apologized to parliament’s Upper House Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and pledged to do the ministry’s utmost to recover the crew and the aircraft.
The Japan Times headlined its report with the two crew being feared dead. AeroHaber later reported that autopsies showed the two airmen, aged 29 and 31, died about two minutes after takeoff. It added that the Air Self-Defense Force grounded all 196 of its T-4 trainers while an urgent inspection looked for any technical fault. The cause of the crash was still under investigation.
Sources
- Two crew feared dead after ASDF training jet crashes in Aichi (The Japan Times, Jesse Johnson)
- ASDF training jet with 2 aboard crashes around pond in Aichi (The Asahi Shimbun)
- T-4 Training Jet Crashes in Japan: Two Pilots Killed (AeroHaber)
