Why Are So Many Planes Crashing Right Now?

What’s going on in the aviation world?

As you’ve likely heard, there have been quite a few plane crashes this year, and we’re barely a few months into the year.

Among them is a devastating mid-air collision between a US Army helicopter and an American Airlines passenger plane in January, resulting in a total loss in both aircraft. We’ll go into detail about where they happened.

But Devastating Disasters wants to know: Why have there been so many plane crashes lately? And should you be worried about flying from now on? Continue reading to learn what aviation experts have to say about all this!

Cause of the crashes

The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are examining all these recent crashes and close calls to find out what caused them and they’re looking for ways to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.

There have already been troubling revelations about the midair collision, but it will take some time to get the full report on what happened.

What happened in Alaska?

The cause of the crash is still being investigated. But the death toll of 10 makes it one of the most fatal plane crashes in the state in decades.

Alaska’s mixed terrain, ranging from glaciers and mountains to lakes, thick forests, and seemingly infinite tundra, can make flying difficult. But so can rapidly varying weather conditions. Microclimates in some places mean the weather at an airport, for instance, can be much different than conditions a few miles away.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says that reliable telecommunications systems are critical. He pledged to work with the state’s congressional delegation and other federal agencies on a plan to enhance aviation safety.

Washington D.C.

The crew of the Army helicopter that collided with the American Airlines plane near Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington might have had incorrect altitude readings in the moments before the crash and also might not have heard critical instructions from air traffic controllers to move behind the plane, investigators said.

Jennifer Homendy, the National Transportation Safety Board’s Chairwoman said that the recording from the Black Hawk helicopter cockpit indicated an incomplete radio transmission might have left the crew without understanding how it should shift position just before the January crash, in which all 67 aboard the two planes were killed.

“That transmission was interrupted – it was stepped on,” she said, which means they couldn’t hear the words “pass behind the” because the helicopter’s microphone key was pressed simultaneously. The pilots of the helicopter may have also missed part of another communication when the tower said the jet was turning toward a different runway, she said.

It’ll take a while to get the final NTSB report on the collision, and Homendy warned reporters that many issues were still being questioned.

Toronto

The cause of this incident remains murky. According to the FAA, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada will be in charge of the inquiry. The first thing to know is that the incident happened amid continued snowfall in the area and follows back-to-back winter storms.

An audio recording from the Toronto Pearson International Airport tower indicates the flight was cleared to land at roughly 2:10 pm local time. The tower alerts the pilots of a possible air flow bump in the glide path as the plane lands because of an aircraft in front of it. “It’s scarce to see something like this,” stated John Cox, CEO of aviation safety consulting firm Safety Operating Systems in Florida.

“We’ve seen a couple of takeoffs where airplanes have been inverted, but it’s pretty rare.” Cox, who flew for US Air for decades and has worked on investigations, said the CRJ900 is a proven aircraft in service for many years and handles inclement weather skillfully.

“The weather conditions were windy. The wind was out of the west at 27 to 35 knots, about 38 miles an hour. So it was windy. But the airplanes are designed and certified to handle that. The pilots are trained and experienced to handle that.”

How worried should we be?

Fatal crashes draw tremendous attention partly because they’re rare. The track record of US airlines is extremely safe, as indicated by the long stretch between fatal crashes.

But fatal crashes have happened more recently all over the world, including one in South Korea that killed all 179 people aboard. There were also two fatal crashes involving Boeing in 2018 and 2019.

And last January, a door plug blew off a 737 Max mid-air, raising more questions about the aircraft. Federal officials have been raising concerns about an understaffed and overtaxed air traffic control system for years, especially after a series of close calls between planes at airports in the US.

Among the reasons they have staffing shortages are uncompetitive pay, intensive training, long shifts, and mandatory retirements. President Donald Trump added to those issues when he blamed the midair collision on the “obsolete” air traffic control system that airports rely on and vowed to replace it.

But even with all that, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has tried to assure the public that air travel is “way safer than traveling in a car and train. This is the safest mode of transportation.”

And the statistics tend to back that up. The National Safety Council estimates that people have a 1-in-93 chance of dying in a motor vehicle crash, while deaths on airplanes are too rare to even calculate the odds. And numbers from the US Department of Transportation tell a similar story.

What are your thoughts on this matter? Let us know in the comments. And if you found this article interesting, you’ll also want to check out: 4 History-Changing Accidents With Big Consequences