Since the beginning of 2025, America has been seeing a rise in the number of fatal aviation mishaps. In January 2025, American Airlines Flight 5342 and army Black Hawk collided in Washington DC and all the 64 passengers on board were killed in this accident. This also marked the first major commercial flight crash in almost over a decade in America.
Following this accident, a series of such mishaps kept happening. Last week in New York, a tourist helicopter plummeted in the Hudson river and six people who were boarding it, including three children, lost their lives. Such accidents have naturally instilled fear in the minds of American citizens with 29% of them thinking that travelling by plane is unsafe.
While such fear might seem far-fetched, the Telegraph analysis of Aviation Safety Network (ASN) data has revealed that these kinds of thoughts are actually grounded in reality. As The Telegraph reported, “While the 21 accidents recorded up to April 10 are lower than the 24 recorded by this point last year – the number of aviation fatalities in 2025 exceed that of the past 15 years combined.”
The report further added, “Some 40.6 million commercial flights took to the skies in 2024 carrying around five billion passengers, the latest report from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) shows.”
It should be noted here that since its inception, aviation fatalities and accidents had started to decrease since the 1980s, owing to strict regulatory frameworks, deserving pilots with clear understanding of air traffic control, and various advancements in technology.
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Now, in 2025, with the rise in various aviation mishaps this trend of safe air travel seems to be going backwards. The Telegraph reported, “There have been 83 fatalities on civilian airliners in the US so far this year, making up 63 per cent of the global total of 131. And this is not inclusive of helicopter crashes, so the overall aviation total is even higher.”
Talking about these accidents, The Flight Safety Foundation’s president and chief executive, Dr Hassan Shahidi said, “The recent accidents – such as the tragic tour helicopter crash in New York, the small aircraft accident over the weekend, and the military helicopter-airliner collision near DCA – are each deeply saddening.”
He further added, “It’s important to emphasize, however, that these events are unrelated. Each involves a unique aircraft type, operating environment, and set of circumstances.”
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David Spero, the national president of PASS, testified last month on the state of the US Air Traffic Control system and told the law makers that “haphazardly eliminating positions and encouraging resignations” resulted in a “distraction for employees performing safety-critical duties.”
The Federal Aviation Administration noted, “The FAA manages the world’s safest and most complex aviation system. On an average day, we serve more than 45,000 flights and 2.9 million airline passengers across more than 29 million square miles of airspace. The FAA’s priority is to advance the safety of the nation’s aviation system. We are continuously proactive, consistent, and deliberative in executing our responsibilities to the American public.”
It now remains to be seen if the situation really improves or if such unfortunate accidents keep happening and fuel the average American fear of air travelling further.
