Many people have raised concerns about the many plane-related accidents this year. There have been a total of 87 United States aviation accidents in 2025 alone as of February 17th, and 13 of which have been fatal. A lot of controversy has arisen as people are quick to blame many different causes for the seemingly large amount of accidents that have occurred in the past couple of months.
For starters, the amount of aviation accidents was not paralleled this year compared to previous years. In fact, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), there were 123 aviation accidents in January 2024 alone. This number comes up as there were only 62 accidents in January 2025. However, the number of fatalities is a different story. In January 2025, there were 71 reported fatalities and 2 fatal accidents, whereas, in January 2024, there were 19 fatal accidents but fewer deaths overall. Among all of these current incidents, the NTSB still defends this year’s aviation performance with chairperson Jennifer Homendy stating “Aviation is the safest mode of transportation. You are at greater risk getting into your car to and from the airport. 43,000 people die on our nation’s roads annually, and millions more get injured. Aviation is incredibly safe.”
Furthermore, people have been quick to blame many political factors on the recent plane crashes, including the recent government mass-firings, which are due to a supposed push to slash government funding. Around 400 Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) workers were fired according to the union. This is despite the Trump Administration claiming that no people with “critical safety” jobs were fired. Many people who directly aided in airport and flight functions were fired, however, and this may have had some influence on the recent plane incidents. The union has reported that most of the workers that were fired included safety assistants, mechanics responsible for maintenance, and nautical information specialists.
Currently, the deadliest US crash by far was the mid-air collision that happened over the Potomac River in Washington D.C. on January 29, 2025. A Bombardier CRJ700 plane on an American Airlines flight and a United States Army Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter collided killing the 3 crewmembers of the military helicopter and the 64 commercial passengers. The causes for the collision are still under investigation by the NTSB, but there have been theories such as a reported 200-foot altitude deviation from the allowed height of 500 feet that the helicopter was supposed to be flying at, a simple navigation error, and inadequate training as the helicopter was on a training mission at the time. Even among these theories, there was undoubtedly already a small room for error as even the approved flight paths of each aircraft were already relatively close.
Throughout all of this discourse, some factors are simple. The total number of accidents has gone down so far, but fatalities have increased. It is also possible that the recent FAA employee firings impacted and possibly influenced the recent tragedies. Despite this, flight remains statistically safe compared to other modes of transport, but these incidents pose questions and concerns to the public, and discourse has no doubt been further fueled by recent political changes as well. As investigations continue, the debate over aviation safety in 2025 remains ongoing. Whether these incidents are isolated or part of a larger trend will be revealed in time. For now, be sure to stay informed and updated on happenings in government and flight.
