There have been several high-profile plane crashes in the US in 2025. Just this week, a UPS cargo jet crashed shortly after takeoff from the logistics firm’s Louisville, Kentucky hub.
Questions have been raised about US aviation safety under the Trump administration, with a series of fatal accidents, and criticism (whether valid or not) of the FAA and Air Traffic Control management.
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Despite investment by the previous administration, US ATC has been understaffed which has arguably illustrated other weaknesses in an aging system. In May, US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy unveiled plans for a new ATC system as a result of failings.
But what’s the reality? Has there been an increase in aviation accidents in the past 10 months?
More US air crashes in 2025?
Essentially, no.
While there have been some dreadful events, with fatal outcomes, the available statistics do not show an increase in air accidents in the US since January 2025.
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By GlobalDataSignificant fatal US crashes in 2025
The Potomac River mid-air collision, above the nation’s capital Washington DC, killed 67 people when a commercial jet taking off from Ronald Reagan National Airport collided with a military Blackhawk helicopter. The Bering Air Flight 445 crash in Alaska killed all 10 people onboard when it crashed shortly before its expected arrival in Nome. Five passengers and a pilot died when a Bell 206 helicopter crashed into the Hudson River in New York City in April.
Several small aircraft have crashed in the US in 2025, including a Cessna Citation II crash in San Diego which killed all six onboard in May, and a Learjet 55 on a medical flight which crashed in Philadelphia killing six onboard and two people on the ground.
There have also been international incidents which grabbed headlines, most notable the Air India crash in Ahmedabad. It was the deadliest crash of 2025, with 241 passengers killed along with 19 people on the ground. Although it did not take place in the US, it again piled pressure on the US plane manufacturer Boeing, as the aircraft in question was a 787 jet.
Accident rate vs Fatalities
The available statistics (which will not be complete until the end of the year) do not show an increase in commercial or general aviation accidents.
What they do show is, so far, an increase in fatalities.
That’s down to the larger accidents, including the Potomac River collision. But it does not suggest a decrease in general aviation safety.
Between January and July 2025 there were 623 aviation accidents in the US, across all sectors. These are the latest statistics available.
In the same period in 2024, there were 729 accidents across all US aviation.
This is representative of the general downward trend in aviation accidents across the past three decades.
The stats are complicated by the Covid-19 pandemic
Although there has not been an uptick in aviation accidents this year, and the general trend in fatal and non-fatal accidents in the US across multiple decades is downwards, the Covid-19 pandemic created a statistical anomaly that might make it look like there has been an increase in recent years.
That’s can be explained very simply: The global lockdowns and stay-at-home orders in the US meant there were far less flights in total in 2020, which naturally means there were far fewer aviation accidents.
While there were more commercial and general aviation accidents in 2021 and subsequent years than 2020, the dip in fatal and non-fatal events in 2020 cannot be taken out of context.
We can see a more accurate picture when accidents per flight hours are analysed.
The rate of 4.8 accidents per 100,000 flight hours across 2021 and 2022 was actually the lowest rate in the preceding decade.
Although there has been a rise in the absolute number of annual accidents since 2020, that is because 2020 was a low outlier, not because there has been a sustained growth in the number of accidents since 2019.
Frequently asked questions
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Have US aviation accidents increased in 2025?
No — available data through July 2025 do not show an increase in the number of US aviation accidents compared with recent years. From January–July 2025 there were 623 accidents vs. 729 in the same period of 2024, continuing a long-term downward trend in accident counts.
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Why do plane crash headlines feel worse — are fatalities up?
Yes — fatalities are higher so far in 2025, driven by several large, deadly crashes (e.g., the Potomac River mid-air collision, Bering Air Flight 445, and other major incidents). A rise in deaths from a few large accidents can occur even when the overall accident count is stable or falling.
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Could the pandemic or staffing issues be skewing the picture?
Partly. The 2020 COVID downturn produced an outlier low in flights and accidents, so recent year-to-year comparisons can be misleading unless adjusted for exposure (flight hours). Analyses that use accidents per flight-hour show very low rates in 2021–22. Staffing and ageing ATC infrastructure are valid concerns being addressed, but they haven’t translated into a documented nationwide rise in accident rates in 2025.
