Mysterious aircraft crashes at Area 51: FBI investigating after crash site is tampered with
October 8, 2025
Tampering with an assumed UAV crash site after clean-up operations near Area 51 adds to the saga’s mystery. Secrecy provides fertile grounds for wild speculations and conspiracy theories.
An unidentified aircraft crashed near Area 51
On the 23rd of September, an aircraft assigned to the 432nd Wing crashed near Area 51 in Nevada, where the USAF conducts many covert missions. The Air Force acknowledged the crash and said there were no fatalities or injuries in the mishap.
The same day, the FAA issued a NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) for aircraft to avoid the area, with the notice remaining in effect until the 1st of October. The reason given was “national security.”
The service stated the crash site was secured and guarded until it was able to complete the recovery and cleanup operations on the 27th.
Immediately after the security and recovery crew pulled out in the early afternoon of the 27th, Joerg Arnu, an Area 51 researcher and webmaster of the site Dreamland Resort, visited the site. He live-streamed the UAV crash site.
In the video, only freshly overtuned soil and tyre tracks are visible at the site in the wilderness. According to Arnu, the aircraft crashed around 00:35 on the 23rd.
Crash site tampered with, triggering FBI investigation
In a strange twist, on the 4th of October, the United States Air Force stated that the service believes the crash site shows “signs of tampering.” This was found after a follow-on site survey on the 3rd of October.
The Air Force elaborated that the tampering included the presence of an “inert training bomb body” and an “aircraft panel of unknown origin” that it believes were placed at the site after the crash.
The statement said the matter is being investigated by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI) and the FBI.
Mystery aircraft crash
There is speculation as to which aircraft crashed. The War Zone (TWZ) noted the 432nd Wing is headquartered at Creech Air Force Base near the site, and its flying squadrons mostly operate MQ-9 Reaper drones.
This led some to suspect a Reaper had crashed. But the TWZ points out that the level of secrecy is unusual if that is the case, unless it was operating in a particularly sensitive configuration. The drone has been in operation for two decades now, and several have crashed or been shot down without high security being enforced.
Third US MQ-9 Reaper shot down by Houthi from November 2023. Judging by the video, some powerful and high-speed SAM was used to destroy the drone, possibly variants of the Iranian Taer-2 SAM missiles, that had previously demonstrated in Yemen under the name Barq-1\2 pic.twitter.com/8AGMoCcVqc
— Yuri Lyamin (@imp_navigator) April 27, 2024
Notably, Houthi rebels in northern Yemen are known to have shot down perhaps dozens of them over the last few years. The Times of Israel reported the Air Force had lost seven Reapers over Yemen between mid-March and the end of April 2025 alone. That was during the high tempo of intense US strikes on the Houthis.
Alternatively, it is also possible that the aircraft that crashed in Area 51 was a secretive RQ-170 Sentinel stealth drone. TWZ pointed out that Creech is also home to the 30th and 44th Reconnaissance Squadrons, which are the only units known to operate those spy drones. It is unknown if the RQ-170s are based at Creech or not.
The US Air Force has only ever released one image of the RQ-170, a grainy picture of the drone at Guam’s Andersen Air Force Base. The RQ-170 should not be confused with the larger and even more secretive RQ-180 spy drone.
