A sightseeing helicopter crashed into the Hudson River near New Jersey on Thursday, April 10. All six on board were killed.
A day later, a small-engine airplane carrying three people crashed in Boca Raton, Florida.
The number of aviation incidents in 2025 is growing, and many Americans are still afraid to fly. Air travel has also been a concern after the Federal Aviation Administration fired fewer than 400 employees of its 45,000-strong workforce.
Although Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy insisted that none of the employees fired were in “safety critical” positions, the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists union said that maintenance mechanics, aeronautical information specialists, aviation safety assistants, and management and program assistants were let go, per Reuters.
The workers were fired as part of the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency’s plan to reduce federal spending and the federal workforce.
That said, news of recent plane crashes have sparked concerns about air travel. But as it turns out, through April 12, there were 52 more plane crashes in 2024 than there were in 2025, according to the National Transportation Safety Board’s monthly aviation dashboard. And there were six more fatal plane crashes through April 12, 2024, than there were during the same period in 2025.
