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March 5, 2025
For decades, United States airlines have advertised an impeccable record of zero deadly airline crashes in the nation since 2009. Unfortunately, that reputation has been broken after five crashes in the US have occurred in less than one month, starting with the well-known fatal collision of an American Airlines flight with a Black Hawk helicopter on Jan. 29, 2025. This plane crash killed a total of 67 passengers on the two aircrafts and sent both the helicopter and plane into the Potomac River, making it hard to determine how many people were killed. The crash occurred as the American Airlines flight was approximately half a mile from the Ronald Reagan Airport in Arlington, VA, where the plane was supposed to land at Runway 1, confirmed by pilots at 8:42 p.m.
Philadelphia street remains covered in debris from plane crash. (Credit: northeasttimes.com)
Only two days following the tragic collision in Washington, D.C., a medical jet carrying seven people crashed in a suburban neighborhood in Philadelphia. The plane caused irreversible damage to the neighborhood where it crashed, including an eight-food crater on Cottman Avenue and damage to dozens of homes and businesses on the street where the aircraft hit. The plane was headed to Mexico, where all passengers lived, and carried a young pediatric patient, her mother, two pilots, one doctor, and a paramedic; all of whom were killed in the crash. It was estimated to have left less than a minute before it collided with the ground only three miles from the Northeast Philadelphia airport. The only other known casualty besides passengers on the plane was a man driving in his car with his 9 year old son. Both were hit, killing the father and leaving his son in a coma.
On Feb. 6, a plane headed to Nome, AK, disappeared from the radar system about 34 miles before it was set to land at Nome Airport that afternoon. The wreckage was found the next day by the US Coast Guard, who reported in a Facebook Post, “All ten individuals aboard the Bering Air plane have been officially brought home.” All nine passengers and one pilot have been found and identified, but the wreckage remains on the coast of Alaska, “To be taken for further analysis,” according to CNN.
As if that wasn’t enough, on Feb. 10 a plane at Scottsdale Airport in Arizona diverged off its path while landing and headed straight toward a parked plane on a neighboring runway. Killing one pilot and critically injuring four passengers, the results of this collision are slightly less fatal than the other crashes but just as devastating. The investigation is ongoing, but it is believed that the cause of the accident was a landing gear failure, though it is unknown the specific reasoning behind it.
As of Feb. 20, the latest and last airplane accident in 2025 occurred on Valentine’s Day, when a Cessna plane carrying only one person (the pilot) went missing while airborne, and was found to have crashed in a rural Florida county. The pilot is presumed dead, and although a Sheriff’s Office helicopter was able to locate the downed plane, there still is not much information about what really happened.
After some of the most deadly airplane crashes in the last 25 years, devastation and fear exist throughout the country. While mystery still remains around many of the collisions, hopefully airline companies and anyone else involved can find a reason and a fix to the accidents before any more destruction is done.
Bering airplane found on southern coast of Alaska. (Credit: CNN)
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