Pilots Explains Why There Are So Many Plane Crashes Lately

A pilot has shared a possible explanation as to why there seems to be so many plane crashes at the moment.

It hasn't gone unnoticed that in the first few months of 2025, we've seen a number of high profile aviation accidents.

In January, the world was shocked by a horrifying mid-air collision between a passenger aeroplane and military helicopter near Washington D.C., killing 67. Just 48 hours later an air ambulance crashed moments after taking off in Philadelphia, while a commuter plane flying over the Alaskan coast crashed after vanishing from flight radar trackers on 6 February.


Trump on recent plane crashes

Credit: Fox News

0 seconds of 1 minute, 0Volume 90%

On 17 February, a flight coming in to land at Toronto airport dramatically flipped just moments after touching down on the runway - though thankfully, all onboard survived the ordeal.

So, what's going on? Why does it feel like so many aircraft are crashing and is this something we need to be worrying about?

According to one pilot on Reddit, the answer is no.

While taking part in an AMA thread, the pilot - who didn't reveal his name but explained that he had experience flying Boeing 737's across North America - answered a number of questions ranging from concerns about turbulence to passenger nightmare stories and of course, the apparent increase in plane crashes.

Explaining why there isn't a sudden spike in aviation accidents, the pilot said it's instead down to the increase of reporting, which makes it feel like more plane crashes are happening.




There appeared to be an increase in plane crashes earlier this year (Mert Alper Dervis/Anadolu via Getty Images)

"They’re not happening any more than they have in the past," he wrote.

"The news has just made it a focus recently so you’re hearing about it more."

Going on to add that it was 'unfortunate' that so many conspiracies have cropped up after the American Airlines case, he added: "But we’re right on average so far this year with as many that were expected. And most of those are small planes.

"The American airline safety record is impeccable and I expect that to continue."

The pilot isn't the only aviation expert seeking to the calm nerves of anxious airline passengers, with MIT professor of statistics Arnold Barnett telling MailOnline that he believed this year's crashes were a coincidence and not something to lose sleep over.




A pilot on Reddit wants to assure passengers that the recent crashes are coincidental (Getty Stock Images)

"In the overwhelming majority of months, there are no fatal accidents on scheduled flights anywhere in the world," he said.

"Also, the prominent recent crashes had very different causes, so they offer no evidence of a systematic problem that has become much more dangerous."

However, former pilot Shawn Pruchnicki gave a more bleak assessment on the situation, telling the Daily Mail: "As a former commercial pilot, crash investigator and expert in accident causation, I have seen the safety buffer that took decades to build steadily eroded in recent years."

Which is something you might not want to think about while boarding your next flight.