Audrey Packard
New York City, USA
In recent months, reports of plane crashes have increased and gained significant media attention, leaving many travelers anxious about flying. The first major plane crash was announced at the end of January, and since then new headlines about plane crashes have dominated the media every few days. But many Americans wonder: are plane crashes really on the rise, or has the news just highlighted them more? And, are these incidents simply a coincidence, or are they all connected?
On January 29, 2025, the Potomac River mid-air collision occurred when American Airlines Flight 5342 and a U.S. Army Sikorsky Black Hawk helicopter collided over the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. The result of this crash was tragic, and the accident was titled the deadliest plane crash since 2001, as there were no survivors of the 64 people the plane carried. Such an incident was seen as extremely rare, with no mid-air collisions of similar scale having occurred in decades. Just a few weeks later, on February 19th, another aircraft collision took place mid-air above an airport in Tucson, Arizona. Though there were four reported deaths, this collision was not nearly as destructive as the one in January, as one plane hit the ground and caught on fire, while the other was able to land safely on the runway. In the days following the crash, there was a medical jet crash in Philadelphia, that killed seven people; a commuter plane crash that took place in Alaska, which killed ten people; and a plane crash that caused a Delta flight to overturn while landing in Toronto, killing 21 people. While these four crashes following the Potomac disaster received heavy media attention, statistical data suggests they align with the typical monthly and yearly aviation accident rates.
So far, in 2025, there have been 113 flight accidents, fifteen of which were deadly. Of these, 63 occurred in January and 50 in February. While these numbers may seem high, they must be viewed in context—over one million flights take off in the United States each month. In 2024, there were a total of 1,425 aviation accidents, 261 of which were fatal. This means that there were about 118 accidents per month and 21 fatal accidents every month. And in 2023, though there were no major commercial flight crashes, there were 1,216 accidents, 199 of which were fatal.
Statistically, flying commercially is still very safe, and the majority of aircraft accidents are to do with smaller or private planes; the Potomac River collision was the first commercial fatal collision since 2009. National regulation and effective communication between pilots and air traffic controllers keep travelling in the skies the statistically safest method of transport.
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