Three Israeli nationals died when the Piper PA-28 single-engine aircraft they were aboard crashed in a wooded area near Bowie, Maryland, late on Saturday night, according to Israeli media reports citing the Foreign Ministry. Maryland State Police confirmed the deaths of three adult men at the scene, but said their identities were being withheld pending notification of next of kin. The aircraft, which belonged to a flight school in Montgomery County, was on a training flight and had taken off from Ocean City, New Jersey, bound for Montgomery County Airpark.

Authorities were alerted to the crash approximately 15 minutes after takeoff, around midnight, when an automated iPhone crash detection signal was received by Prince George's County Public Safety Communications. A search involving multiple agencies, including local police and fire services, scoured the area in darkness for nearly four hours before locating the wreckage at about 3:45 a.m. Sunday. Debris was scattered over roughly 30 metres in a wooded area in close proximity to a residential neighbourhood and a children's playground, but no injuries were reported on the ground.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration. Local police noted the difficult conditions, with no lights and no known eyewitnesses. "We do not know what happened between New Jersey and Maryland," a police spokesperson said, adding that investigators would examine whether such training flights should be conducted at night. The incident adds to a recent spate of aviation accidents in the United States, including a Navy jet crash in Washington state, a skydiving plane disaster in Missouri, and a B-52 bomber crash in California. On 19 June, a United Airlines Boeing 777 made an emergency landing in Houston after an engine fire shortly after takeoff; all 280 on board were unharmed.

Israeli consular officials are assisting the families of the victims. The names of those killed are expected to be released once relatives have been informed. The NTSB has stated that a preliminary report could take weeks, and the full investigation months.