Why 2025 feels like the Year of the "Plane Incident"
Welcome aboard 2025’s bumpy ride; before most travelers had even cashed in their New Year miles, an American Eagle CRJ and an Army Black Hawk tangled over the Potomac, a med-evac Learjet turned a Philadelphia suburb into a fire-ball pit two nights later, and a fog-blinded Citation pancaked into San Diego’s Murphy Canyon in May, three crashes, three cautionary tales, and a not-so-subtle reminder that gravity still owns frequent-flier status.
In this post:
The 3 Main incidents that people may or may not have read about.
During a snow gust landing on Runway 23, the jet touched down hard, the right main gear fractured, the aircraft skidded, rolled and came to rest upside down beside centerline.
All 80 aboard thankfully survived; 21 treated for injuries ranging as mild from sprains to head lacerations.
SB’s prelim report cites a sink-rate alert 2.6 s before touchdown and a descent (1,100 fpm) well beyond the gear’s design limit. Gusty crosswinds and reduced speed added to impact forces.
Jaw dropping pictures of an upside down jet in blowing snow; first CRj hull loss with zero fatalities.
Southwest 2505 vs Flexjet Challenger 350. “Midway Miss by 200 ft”
Date. 25 Feb, 2025. Chicago Midway.
Southwest Flight 2504 (737-800) was flaring to land on 31C when a Flexjet CL-350 taxied across the active runway. ATC shouted a late go-around; the Boeing cleared the biz-jet’s tail by roughly 200 ft in plan view.
Flexjet crew mis-identified narrow Runway 31L (60 ft) as a taxiway and assumed 31C (150 ft wide) was the runway they were cleared to cross. Low sun and blocked radio calls compounded confusion.
Near collision as Southwest flight is taking off.
American Eagle Flight 5342 & U.S. Army UH- 60. “Potomac Collision”
Date. 29 Jan 2025, 0.5 mi short of Regan National.
CRJ-700 on approach and a Black Hawk on a night-vision evaluation flight accepted visual separation; they converged at 300 ft AGL and collided. Both crashed into the river.
All 67 aboard both aircraft perished, including 11 junior U.S. figure-skating athletes.
Combined ATC positions due to staffing, congested airspace, helicopter corridor only 15 ft vertically below the approach path, and missed radio fragments. Preliminary NTSB report issued 11 Mar urges route redesign.
Image showing the two aircrafts dismantled in the water
Honorable Mentions.
San Diego Private jet crash
In the early-morning hours of Thursday, May 22, 2025 (≈ 3:45 a.m.), a privately operated Cessna Citation 550 (tail N666DS) was on approach to Montgomery-Gibbs Regional Airport (KMYF) when it struck power lines in heavy fog and crashed into the military-housing neighborhood of Murphy Canyon, roughly two miles southeast of the runway.
All six people on board were killed; no ground fatalities were reported, though several homes and vehicles caught fire.
Possible route Causes
Pilot & ATC Staffing Gaps
17000 pilots will reach mandatory retirement by 2030; US airlines face a shortfall peaking around 24000 pilots by 2026.
The Midway near miss and the D.C collision both occurred while single controllers were “combined position”
Extreme Weather Spike
NOAA says thunderstorm days in the lower 48 are 14% higher YTD than the 10-year average. Severe clear-air turbulence worldwide has risen 55% since 1979. Check out our article that dives deeper into this.
Google searches for “Is it safe to fly?” jumped to 3× the 2022 baseline after January’s Potomac disaster; TikTok’s #aviationsafety tag surged past 1 B views.
Buckle up, keep your coffee lid on, and remember: despite the headlines, your seat in the sky is still the riskiest place to spill something in 2025. Safe travels
