On Friday morning, April 12th, there was a small plane traveling from the Boca Raton airport to the Tallahassee International Airport.  The plane was in the air for no more than 10 minutes when it started having mechanical difficulties, causing it to go down, killing the 3 passengers aboard. Early in February, a small commuter plane went down in western Alaska without warning or distress signals, killing all 10 people aboard. This crash was named the state’s deadliest crash in 25 years. In late January, a collision between an American Airlines passenger jet and an Army helicopter killed everyone around both aircraft. One of the deadliest crashes since 2001. Due to recent events like these, it may seem that there has been an increase in plane crashes, causing concerns about safety and flying. But data show that this isn’t the case, and the appearance of increased crashes is due to the media’s influence.  According to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), there has been a constant number of total plane crashes since 2013, with a slight increase in the past 2 years after coming back from COVID-19. Federal officials are reassuring people that flying is still the safest mode of transportation, even with the recent cascade of plane accident headlines. It is estimated that in 2024, there were roughly 39,000 car crash fatalities, and in total, there were just under 1500 plane crashes. Jeremy Spink, an aviation specialist from the Michigan Department of Transportation, said that the Federal Aviation Administration compliance is still in effect and that there is nothing wrong with the mechanical state of the planes and airlines. People are only seeing more of the crashes because things are more publicized. 

“It’s more publicized now, so the visibility is there more so it does seem like there are more crashes, when, in reality, the data is showing that there hasn’t been a substantial increase, but rather just that the optics of it are becoming more visible with the news cycles.” Spink Said. “General Aviation, specifically, it’s not uncommon to see accidents and incidents of all types, from minor collisions on the airport to actual aircraft crashes, crashes that result in fatalities. It’s a bit of a buzzword kind of news thing that this is going around more, but people do need to keep in mind still that all of the compliance and regulatory side of things are still in effect.”