Is air travel safe? Deadly Air India plane crash renews concerns after a string of other crashes

Winnipeg Free Press

3 days ago

At least 240 people were killed when an Air India plane crashed Thursday into a medical school shortly after takeoff. It was the latest in a long list of aviation disasters this year.
One passenger survived the crash but everyone else aboard the Boeing 787 was killed. More people died on the ground after the plane crashed and generated a large fireball. Black smoke billowed from the site where the plane crashed and burst into flames near the airport in Ahmedabad, a city of more than 5 million and the capital of Gujarat.
All the aircraft crashes and near misses have fueled many worries about flying.
The Indian crash was far worse than the midair collision that killed 67 people near Washington, D.C., in January in the first major fatal crash on U.S. soil since 2009. Other recent incidents include an airliner clipping another in February while taxiing at the Seattle airport. In March, an American Airlines plane caught fire after landing in Denver, sending 12 people to the hospital. A sightseeing helicopter broke apart and crashed into the Hudson River between New York City and New Jersey in April, killing six people.
Federal officials have tried to reassure travelers that flying is the safest mode of transportation, and statistics support that. But the cascade of headlines about all the things that have gone wrong is drawing increasing attention.
Here is a look at some of the recent tragedies and mishaps:
Recent fatal crashes
— Two different small planes crashed near San Diego over the past month. Six people died when a private jet crashed into a San Diego neighborhood in the midst of heavy fog. The runway lights weren't working at that airport. Six more people died earlier this week when a small plane crashed into the ocean shortly after taking off in San Diego.
— The New York helicopter that crashed on April 10 departed a downtown heliport. The flight lasted less than 18 minutes. Radar data shows the helicopter flew north along the Manhattan skyline, then south toward the Statue of Liberty. The victims in this crash included a family from Spain who was celebrating the ninth birthday of one of their children.
— Three people were killed and one was injured when a small plane crashed April 11 in Boca Raton, Florida, near a major interstate highway and pushed a car onto railroad tracks.
— Two small planes collided midair near an Arizona airport in February, killing two people who were on one of the aircraft. Following the collision, one plane landed uneventfully, but the other hit the ground near a runway and caught fire. The crash happened at Marana Regional Airport near Tucson.
— A small commuter plane crashed in Alaska in early February, killing all 10 people on board. The crash was one of the deadliest in the state in 25 years. Radar data indicated that the plane rapidly lost elevation and speed. The U.S. Coast Guard was unaware of any distress signals from the aircraft.
— A medical transport plane that had just taken off plummeted into a Philadelphia neighborhood in late January, killing all six people on board and two people on the ground. About two dozen people were also hurt. The National Transportation Safety Board said its cockpit voice recorder likely hadn't been functioning for years. The crew made no distress calls to air traffic control.
— The collision between an American Airlines passenger jet and a U.S. Army helicopter above the nation's capital killed everyone aboard both aircraft in late January. It was the deadliest plane crash in the U.S. since Nov. 12, 2001, when a jet slammed into a New York City neighborhood just after takeoff, killing all 260 people on board and five on the ground.
— A jetliner operated by Jeju Air skidded off a runway, slammed into a concrete fence and burst into flames in late December in South Korea after its landing gear apparently failed to deploy. All but two of the 181 people aboard were killed in one of that country's worst aviation disasters.
Incidents with injuries
— The American Airlines plane that caught fire at Denver International Airport in March had been diverted there because the crew reported engine vibrations after taking off in Colorado Springs. While taxiing to the gate, an engine caught fire, prompting slides to be deployed so passengers could evacuate quickly. The people taken to hospitals had minor injuries. The NTSB found a fuel leak and several improperly installed parts in the engine.
— A single-engine plane carrying five people crashed and burst into flames that same month in the parking lot of a retirement community near a small airport near Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Everyone on board survived. Three people were taken to an area burn center.
— A Delta Air Lines jet flipped over while landing at Toronto's Pearson Airport in February. All 80 people on board survived, but some people received minor injuries. Witnesses and video from the scene showed the plane landing so hard that its right wing was sheared off. Investigators said when trying to determine the cause, they would consider the weather conditions and the possibility of human error.
Close calls
— Last month, two commercial planes had to abort their landings at Reagan National Airport near Washington because of an Army Black Hawk helicopter flying near the Pentagon. The Army suspended all its helicopter flights in the area after this incident. It was a Black Hawk priority air transport from the same unit known as the PAT25 that collided with the passenger jet in midair in January.
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— In April, on the same day as the fatal New York helicopter crash, a wing tip of an American Airlines plane struck another plane from the same airline on a taxiway of the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia. There were no reported injuries. Multiple members of Congress were aboard one of the flights.
— A FedEx cargo plane made an emergency landing at a busy New Jersey airport in March after a bird strike caused an engine fire that could be seen in the morning sky. The plane landed at Newark Liberty International Airport. There were no reported injuries.
— Pilots on a Southwest Airlines flight about to land at Chicago's Midway Airport were forced to climb back into the sky to avoid another aircraft crossing the runway in late February. Video showed the plane approaching the runway before it abruptly pulled up as a business jet taxied onto the runway without authorization, federal officials said.
— In early February, a Japan Airlines plane was taxiing on the tarmac of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport when it apparently clipped the tail of a parked Delta plane. There were no injuries reported.
— In early January, passengers panicked when a man aboard a JetBlue plane taxiing for takeoff from Boston's Logan International Airport opened an exit door over a wing, triggering an emergency slide to inflate. Other passengers quickly restrained the man and the plane didn't take off.