Frequent travelers are growing increasingly concerned about a series of back-to-back aviation incidents that have occurred since the start of 2025. At the beginning of the year, an American Airlines jet collided with a Black Hawk helicopter near Washington, D.C., resulting in the deaths of all 67 passengers. Following that, a medical transport plane crashed in Northeast Philadelphia, a United Airlines flight started smoking shortly before takeoff in Houston, Texas, and a Delta Airlines flight crash-landed in Toronto. The tragedies have been going on for months now, the most recent being two Delta jets colliding on the taxiway of New York’s Laguardia Airport.
Global fears intensified following the devastating crash of Air India Flight AI 171 in June, which killed 241 people and left only one survivor, marking the first fatal accident involving a Boeing 787 jet. Just weeks later, another fatal crash occurred on July 13 at London’s Southend Airport, when a small aircraft burst into flames shortly after takeoff, killing all four people on board.
With the list of incidents continuing to grow, many are left wondering: why are so many aviation emergencies happening in 2025, and is it still safe to fly? Below, read on about the reported plane collisions, crashes, and other incidents in the U.S. in 2025.
Plane Crashes in the USA So Far in 2025
There have been over a thousand aviation crashes in the United States from January 1 through today, according to the NTSB. Not all of them have been fatal, however.
Why Are There So Many Plane Crashes Lately?
A surge in aviation incidents throughout 2025 has raised alarm among travelers and aviation authorities alike. The causes vary, including mechanical failures, pilot error, congested airspace, and gaps in emergency response. Investigators from agencies such as the NTSB in the U.S. and the UK’s AAIB are working to identify the root causes.
Is it Safe to Fly Now?
Experts have pointed to the statistics that prove it’s still safe to fly in the U.S. According to aviation safety expert Anthony Brickhouse, passengers are “safer in your flight than you were driving in your car to the airport … statistically speaking,” he told CNN in January 2025.
“Air travel remains the safest mode of transportation,” Brickhouse insisted. “And in safety, we identify trends … something that happens over and over again. And in the safety world, if you keep having near-misses, eventually you’re going to have a midair (collision).”
Still, Brickhouse noted that he thinks “it’s important for the flying public to be vocal and demand that the government and the different entities do everything possible to make air travel as safe as possible.”
In 2024, Bloomberg reported that it was the deadliest year for the aviation industry since 2018; last year, there were about 300 fatalities around the world.
Some people struggle with a fear of flying, otherwise known as Aerophobia. According to the Cleveland Clinic, around 25 million American adults live with Aerophobia.
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