diff --git a/lib/levels.js b/lib/levels.js
index 9ede9f11c..995b54e0e 100644
--- a/lib/levels.js
+++ b/lib/levels.js
@@ -6,8 +6,7 @@ const {
   useLevelLabelsSym,
   changeLevelNameSym,
   useOnlyCustomLevelsSym,
-  streamSym,
-  forceFlushOnFatalSym
+  streamSym
 } = require('./symbols')
 const { noop, genLog } = require('./tools')
 
@@ -24,8 +23,12 @@ const levelMethods = {
   fatal (...args) {
     const stream = this[streamSym]
     logFatal.call(this, ...args)
-    if (this[forceFlushOnFatalSym] && typeof stream.flushSync === 'function') {
-      stream.flushSync()
+    if (typeof stream.flushSync === 'function') {
+      try {
+        stream.flushSync()
+      } catch (e) {
+        // do nothing
+      }
     }
   },
   error: genLog(levels.error),
diff --git a/lib/symbols.js b/lib/symbols.js
index 810f0d12e..38c3609e6 100644
--- a/lib/symbols.js
+++ b/lib/symbols.js
@@ -26,8 +26,6 @@ const messageKeySym = Symbol('pino.messageKey')
 
 const wildcardFirstSym = Symbol('pino.wildcardFirst')
 
-const forceFlushOnFatalSym = Symbol('pino.forceFlushOnFatal')
-
 // public symbols, no need to use the same pino
 // version for these
 const serializersSym = Symbol.for('pino.serializers')
@@ -58,6 +56,5 @@ module.exports = {
   changeLevelNameSym,
   wildcardGsym,
   needsMetadataGsym,
-  useOnlyCustomLevelsSym,
-  forceFlushOnFatalSym
+  useOnlyCustomLevelsSym
 }
diff --git a/pino.js b/pino.js
index a77995eb1..14ad86c8c 100644
--- a/pino.js
+++ b/pino.js
@@ -29,8 +29,7 @@ const {
   messageKeySym,
   useLevelLabelsSym,
   changeLevelNameSym,
-  useOnlyCustomLevelsSym,
-  forceFlushOnFatalSym
+  useOnlyCustomLevelsSym
 } = symbols
 const { epochTime, nullTime } = time
 const { pid } = process
@@ -51,8 +50,7 @@ const defaultOptions = {
   redact: null,
   customLevels: null,
   changeLevelName: 'level',
-  useOnlyCustomLevels: false,
-  forceFlushOnFatal: false
+  useOnlyCustomLevels: false
 }
 
 const normalize = createArgsNormalizer(defaultOptions)
@@ -73,8 +71,7 @@ function pino (...args) {
     customLevels,
     useLevelLabels,
     changeLevelName,
-    useOnlyCustomLevels,
-    forceFlushOnFatal
+    useOnlyCustomLevels
   } = opts
 
   const stringifiers = redact ? redaction(redact, stringify) : {}
@@ -113,8 +110,7 @@ function pino (...args) {
     [formatOptsSym]: formatOpts,
     [messageKeySym]: messageKey,
     [serializersSym]: serializers,
-    [chindingsSym]: chindings,
-    [forceFlushOnFatalSym]: forceFlushOnFatal
+    [chindingsSym]: chindings
   }
   Object.setPrototypeOf(instance, proto)
 
diff --git a/test/levels.test.js b/test/levels.test.js
index 66b312c20..3eaabf750 100644
--- a/test/levels.test.js
+++ b/test/levels.test.js
@@ -418,17 +418,16 @@ test('fatal method sync-flushes the destination if sync flushing is available',
   })
 })
 
-test('fatal method should not sync-flushes the destination if sync flushing is disavailable', async ({ pass, fail, doesNotThrow, plan }) => {
-  plan(1)
-  const stream = sink()
-  stream.flushSync = () => fail('flushSync should not be called')
-  stream.flush = () => {
-    pass('destination flushed')
-  }
-  const instance = pino({ forceFlushOnFatal: false }, stream)
-  instance.fatal('this is fatal')
-  await once(stream, 'data')
-  doesNotThrow(() => {
-    instance.fatal('this is fatal')
-  })
+test('fatal method should call async when sync-flushing fails', ({ equal, fail, doesNotThrow, plan }) => {
+  plan(2)
+  const messages = [
+    'this is fatal 1'
+  ]
+  const stream = sink((result) => equal(result.msg, messages.shift()))
+  stream.flushSync = () => { throw new Error('Error') }
+  stream.flush = () => fail('flush should be called')
+
+  const instance = pino(stream)
+  doesNotThrow(() => instance.fatal(messages[0]))
+  once(stream, 'data')
 })