The recent plane disasters have shocked, and more notably, scared the country.Â
Since the end of 2024, plane accidents have started to worry Americans. The first eye-catching incident was an Air Canada international flight, in which the left wing caught on fire during its landing on Dec. 28. According to CNN, the airline said, “The cause of the suspected landing gear issue is unknown… out of respect for the investigative process, we cannot speculate and have no additional information to provide at this time.”
These unknown answers have not been helpful in light of incidents like this. On Sunday, Dec. 29, a jetliner burst into flames in South Korea when its landing gear failed to deploy. The accident killed 179 people and had only two survivors.
The most prominent accident to cover headlines was the Jan. 29 collision of a passenger jet and a Black Hawk helicopter in Reagan National Airport near Washington, D.C., killing 64 people. This was the first major U.S. commercial crash in almost 16 years.Â
After this tragic crash, two more occurred, including the air ambulance crash in Philadelphia and the fiery plane engine evacuation in Houston.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board, crashes in commercial planes are uncommon, but the Cleveland Clinic states these long-lasting incidents still worry Americans. More than 25 million U.S. adults experience a fear of flying, and this number may increase after the recent crashes.
“The odds of something happening don’t matter as much to the anxious brain,” said Andrea Bonior, a professor at Georgetown University’s Department of Psychology, to Tribune News. “The horrific stakes of something draw in the anxious brain.”
Many Americans have started to question their safety after such occurrences. U.S.A. Today interviewed travelers like 27-year-old Nadirah Reynolds, a non-frequent flyer, to see how they feel about flying.
“This just makes me wary, especially for such a long flight,” said Reynolds to U.S.A. Today. “I don’t know if I trust being in the air for that long and going that distance.”
Like Reynolds, many Americans expressed their concerns. However, experts have told them not to be afraid.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy went on Fox News to assure viewers that air travel is “way safer than traveling in a car and train [and] is the safest mode of transportation.”
Experts also express that it is safe to fly even after an accident. Chad Kendall, an aviation and aerospace science professor at Metropolitan State University of Denver, discusses how operations are still happening. “It is safe for passengers to fly even after the horrific accident. Highly professional pilots and air traffic controllers are doing this right now. Thousands of operations have occurred since this accident,” said Kendall to Fortune News.
Research has shown that flying is safer than driving. These fatal accidents have attracted attention because they are rare. Unlike car crashes, which happen daily and often go unnoticed nationally, plane crashes — especially involving a commercial aircraft — are unusual and, therefore, dominate headlines.
Despite the recent tragedies, aviation experts stress that air travel remains one of the safest modes of transportation. The industry’s strict safety regulations, advanced technology, and highly trained personnel continue to make flying statistically far less risky than other forms of travel.