Over the course of a few weeks, a string of serious airline accidents has made air safety a hot topic—partly because, unlike most high-profile crashes in recent years, these occurred on home turf.
First came the midair collision between an American Airlines commuter jet and an Army helicopter in the nation’s capital, killing all 67 people aboard the two craft. It came just as the U.S. airline industry was set to mark a record run of 16 years without a fatal crash aboard a commercial jet.
That was quickly followed by two fatal accidents aboard small planes—one in Philadelphia and then one in Alaska—in which a total of 17 people perished, adding to the unease.
So much could have gone wrong. That everyone survived was a testament to the strength and airworthiness of that airplane, as well as the professionalism of the crew.
Then, on February 17, came another shocking scene from an airline crash site in Toronto, where a Delta Air Lines regional jet flipped over on a snow-covered runway after a short flight from Minneapolis. Remarkably, all 76 passengers and four crew were safely evacuated, with a few serious injuries reported. Still, the accident added to the impression that something is seriously awry in aviation.
Industry officials and pundits quickly took to the airwaves to reassure the public. Jennifer Homendy, the chair of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which investigates air crashes, emphasized the airlines’ strong safety record, pointing out that, by contrast, more than 100 Americans die every day in car accidents. During an interview with Fox News, she said that while she understands that watching the news coverage of these crashes may be “concerning,” it’s important to keep in mind that “air travel is incredibly safe.” (The investigation into the Delta crash, since it took place on Canadian soil, will be led by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.)
“A wake-up call”
The complete story behind this spate of incidents may not be known for some time; typically a full accident probe can take up to 18 months to conclude. But judging from some of the commentary online, passengers are confused and perhaps leery of hopping on an airplane. But should they be?
Most aviation experts say there’s no reason for alarm, and in fact, the reason air crashes draw so much attention is they’re so rare. Plus, when a cause is found, it usually leads to reforms that make the system even safer. Still, there’s some uneasiness over whether the industry and federal regulators were adequately responding to warning signs, like reports of near misses at airports.
“What this is, then, is a wake-up call,” said John Goglia, former NTSB member and an aviation safety consultant. “We had just gotten far too complacent.”
He added, “It had been so long since that last big crash, and the industry didn’t keep its eye on the ball.”
That last fatal accident crash occurred in 2009, when a Continental Air commuter plane, operated by regional affiliate Colgan Air, crashed outside of Buffalo, New York, killing all 49 aboard and one person on the ground.
The subsequent investigation, along with some highly publicized congressional hearings unearthed the inadequate training and stressful work conditions of commuter airline crews, leading to a series of reforms, such as higher standards for pilots who often get their start in the industry with a commuter line.
But other red flags, including staffing shortages at key air traffic control centers and a wave of pilot retirements during the COVID-19 pandemic, still haven’t been fully resolved.
Goglia points out that the airport where the recent midair collision took place—Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport—was notorious for being one of the most congested airfields in the country. It also has relatively short runways, and “with the Pentagon nearby, you have all that restricted airspace”—meaning airspace that is restricted to use for security reasons due to its proximity to key government and military sites—making it one of the more challenging environments for pilots. Despite that, members of Congress recently voted to expand the number of flight operations at the D.C. airport. But the crash has already prompted the airport to make changes, including new limits on military helicopter flights, which “should never have been allowed to get so close to a busy airfield,” Goglia says.
What happens next?
As the various investigations proceed, it’s important for travelers to keep things in perspective, says William J. McGee, senior fellow for aviation and travel at the American Economic Liberties Project. Even with the recent accidents, “this is still an extremely safe system,” he says. “There are entire generations alive now who can’t remember a time when air crashes were far more common.”
That is true on a global scale, too. For example, while 2024 was one of the worst recent years for air safety, with 11 fatal accidents and a total of 318 killed (including 179 on the Jeju Air crash in Korea), compare that to 2002, when 1,022 people were killed in a total of 33 accidents. And that was on a lower flight volume than we have today.
“Safety issues are cyclical, and while this is hard to say, we were perhaps overdue for a big crash, given the enormous amount of air traffic volume we have in this country,” says an airline pilot and aviation safety expert who asked not to be named.
Still, the odds of being in a crash have improved dramatically due to technological advances and other reforms. In that high crash toll of 2002, for example, 50 percent of the fatalities resulted from a phenomenon called controlled flight into terrain (CFIT), which is when a perfectly good plane is flown into the ground or other obstacle due to human error or poor visibility. More recently, safety reforms, including new advanced navigation technologies, improved training, and cockpit crew coordination, have dramatically reduced the incidents of CFIT crashes around the world, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
In late 2023, when close calls at airports dominated the headlines, the FAA responded with a flurry of recommendations, including accelerating controller hiring.
While the plane type was the focus of the recent Boeing Max crisis, an aircraft that was grounded after two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019, there’s been no suggestion that any mechanical issues were to blame in the recent regional jet crashes. Both the D.C. and the Toronto crashes involved similar aircraft types, a Bombardier CRJ 700 and a CRJ 900, respectively. Those are popular with smaller lines that partner with major lines—in these cases, American’s American Eagle and Delta’s Endeavor subsidiary. These workhorses are generally considered to be highly reliable.
As one pilot remarked after viewing footage of the Toronto crash, “So much could have gone wrong. That everyone survived was a testament to the strength and airworthiness of that airplane, as well as the professionalism of the crew.”
But in the end, what these crashes show, the pilot added, is that when it comes to aviation safety, “we have to constantly have our guard up and be vigilant.”
This story was originally published in March 2024 and was updated on February 19, 2025, to include current information.
