Aviation expert exposes how safe flying really is and single error that can kill (2025)

Washington, Colorado, Philadelphia and Pennsylvania have all been scenes of terryifing accidents and emergencies that has led to a growing fear of flying - with tickets sales falling

Amid billowing clouds of smoke, terrified passengers are seen crammed onto the wing of their plane on the runway after the aircraft caught fire seconds after landing.

The incident at Denver International Airport is one of a spate of airplane accidents and emergencies in recent months, which has raised growing concern about the current state of air travel safety.

Flight 1006 was headed from the Colorado Springs to Dallas Fort Worth on Thursday but diverted to Denver after the crew reported engine vibrations.

Passengers exited the plane onto its left wing, as an engine beneath the right wing burned. They lined up and got to the ground using slides and ladders brought over by ground crews.

One passenger told the CBS Colorado shortly after landing, people on board had begun to notice a "weird burning plastic smell".

Gabrielle Hibbitts, who was travelling with her mother and sister, said: "Then everybody started screaming and saying there was a fire."

Her mother Ingrid added: "It was surreal. I was like 'Is this gonna blow up? What's happening here? Are they gonna be able to put out the fire?' I'm really grateful that this happened on the ground because if this happened in the air, I don't think I'd be standing here telling you the story."

American Airlines said its plane had suffered an engine-related issue after taxiing to its gate at Denver and there were no reported injuries.

Federal Aviation Administration has said an investigation has been launched - one of several simaltaneous investigations in the US after multiple air crashes and close shaves

These include the mid-air clash between a chopper and a passenger jet over Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, DC that claimed 67 lives in January. A few days later a small medical transport plane crashed into several buildings in the US city of Philadelphia killing all six people on board and one person on the ground. Also in February a plane crash in Alaska killed 10 people.

A month later a small airplane with five people onboard crashed in a parking lot near Lancaster airport in Manheim Township, Pennsylvania . Luckily there were no fatalities.

Across the border in Canada a plane from US owned Delta Air flipped over at Toronto Pearson Airport. Miraculously there were only minor injuries reported.

The aircraft arrived from the US city of Minneapolis and was carrying 80 people. It skidded along the runway in flames before flipping over and coming to a dramatic halt upside down, losing its tail and an entire wing in the process.

As the plane slowed to a stop, passengers found themselves hanging upside-down in the cabin. They were locked in place thanks to modern seats and belts that managed to withstand the crash force, experts said.

In the wake of the accident Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said he had seen a decrease in ticket sales

Speaking at JPMorgan Industry conference he said: "We saw a pretty immediate stall in both corporate travel and bookings,” he said. “Consumer confidence and certainty in air travel started to wane a little bit as questions of safety came in.”

Mr Bastian also added that the crashes were some of the worst aviation incidents in the past 25 years and as a result “there’s a whole generation of people traveling these days that didn’t realize these things can happen,” he said.

US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has said he believes that pilot error has contributed to a majority of the recent plane accidents and close calls.

Speaking after private jet nearly collided with a passenger plane at Chicago Midway Airport.

He said "a majority, probably of the errors go to the pilots." Harrowing footage showed the Southwest plane preparing to touch down on Tuesday February 25. The passenger aircraft was seen descending towards the runway as the private jet came in across its flight path. The Southwest Airlines Flight 2504 then pulled up, abandoning the landing effort for airborne safety. It narrowly missed the private aircraft, a Bombardier Challenger 350.

The pilot's stunned reaction was also captured in accompanying audio. He asked the air traffic controllers: "How'd that happen?" Although the investigation is ongoing, aviation officials blamed the runway blunder on the private jet pilot, judging from the footage - appeared to have taxied into the landing path of the Southwest Airlines Flight.

An NBC News review indicates that the rate of US incidents and fatalities on flights has not increased in comparison to past years.

The number of fatal collisions involving aircrafts, including helicopters, small planes and hot air balloons, has seen a decline in the United States over recent years , according to an analysis. Last year saw the lowest number of incidents in the past 25 years, with only 179 recorded.

Speaking exclusively to the Mirror, safety aviation expert David Learmont, believes the major crashes in recent months has resulted in smaller air incidents being reported - when they wouldn't previously generate media interest.

He says: "Because of the Washington DC collision - which was the deadliest incident involving an aircraft in the United States for 25 years - it's created a great deal of interest in aviation safety - so any kind of air accident or emergency is being picked up on when otherwise it wouldn't be."

And the stage was set for more press scrutiny after two international plane crashes outside the US - which has meant the Washington crash only added fuel to the fire.

On December 25 a Azerbaijan Airlines jet hit the ground and burst into a fireball in Aktau, Kazakhstan. It hit a bird - or several birds - and then came plummeting down, smashing to the ground at speed. An oxygen tank exploded onboard, it is reported.

And four days later on December 29 2024, a Jey Air Boeing 737-800 plane crashed at Maun International Airport, in southern South Korea, on Sunday, that killed all but two of the 181 passengers and crew on board.

For the past four decades, David has done an annual safety review for Flight Global,an online aviation news magazine.

He says: “The high-profile fatal accidents in South Korea and Kazakhstan made world news at the end of December - creating the impression that airline safety began a downward trend in 2024.

“In fact, although the global airline safety performance last year saw more fatal accidents and fatalities than any year since 2018, the difference was not statistically dramatic compared with the annual average over the last ten years. The year before - 2023 was the safest year in aviation history. "