In recent months, a troubling increase in airplane accidents has sparked public concern and widespread discussions about aviation safety in the United States. Former President Donald Trump has shared his thoughts on the situation, offering his perspective on why there seem to be more incidents involving planes.
The year began tragically on January 29 with a devastating crash in Washington, D.C. A commercial jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew members collided midair with a U.S. military Black Hawk helicopter, which had three soldiers on board. The plane had been preparing to land at Reagan Airport when the collision occurred. Both aircraft plunged into the Potomac River, leaving no survivors. The horrific accident sent shockwaves through the aviation community and the public.
Unfortunately, that was just the beginning. Only days later, a medical jet traveling from Philadelphia to Mexico crashed, killing all six people on board as well as one individual on the ground. The string of fatal accidents continued when a small plane carrying ten people went down in Alaska, leaving no survivors. In another tragic incident, two planes collided in midair at Arizona’s Marana Airport in February, resulting in two more deaths.
Most recently, on March 9, a small aircraft crashed into a residential neighborhood in Pennsylvania. The plane landed on a row of parked cars before bursting into flames. Five individuals were on board and were quickly transported to nearby hospitals. Their current conditions remain unknown.
Additionally, there was an alarming incident involving a Delta Airlines flight traveling from Minneapolis to Toronto. As the plane attempted to land, it flipped over on the runway and caught fire. Miraculously, all passengers and crew members survived the ordeal, though it raised more questions about the safety of air travel.
With these incidents piling up, many people are wondering what’s behind the uptick in aviation accidents. Speaking to Fox News, former President Trump addressed these concerns. When asked about the role of Chris Rocheleau, the recently appointed head of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Trump dismissed the idea that the FAA’s leadership had anything to do with the recent accidents. He explained that these types of events tend to come in waves. “They have spates like this,” he said. “They have times when things happen a little bit more often than normal and then it goes back, and then you go many years without having a problem.”
Trump appointed Rocheleau as the FAA Administrator in January after the resignation of his predecessor, Mike Whitaker, who stepped down at the end of Joe Biden’s presidency. Despite the timing, Trump insisted the leadership change was unrelated to the accidents.
Trump also praised the quick thinking of a Southwest Airlines pilot who narrowly avoided a collision at Chicago Midway Airport. The pilot took decisive action, accelerating and taking off again after spotting a private jet unexpectedly crossing the runway. Trump lauded the pilot’s reaction, saying, “He immediately stepped on the gas and lifted it up as opposed to thinking for about three seconds. It would have been too late.”
Despite these recent events, Trump and aviation experts alike emphasized that air travel remains one of the safest modes of transportation. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released its 2024 safety report in February 2025, noting there was just one accident for every 880,000 flights last year. Of the 40.6 million flights in 2024, only seven involved fatal accidents.
While 2023 was deemed an “exceptionally safe year” with just 72 fatalities onboard aircraft, 2024 saw an increase to 244 fatalities. However, the five-year trend from 2020 to 2024 shows significant improvement in aviation safety compared to earlier decades.
Conclusion
In conclusion, while recent plane crashes have raised concerns, President Trump attributes the occurrences to natural cycles in aviation history, where accidents tend to happen in clusters. Despite the tragic incidents, air travel remains incredibly safe. Data from the International Air Transport Association supports this, showing a significant reduction in accident rates over the past five years. Overall, aviation safety continues to improve, and these events should be viewed as unfortunate but not reflective of a larger systemic problem.
