How many plane crashes have there been in 2025? Full list of accidents
A spate of deadly plane crashes in 2025 has already rocked aviation – and the year has only just started.
At least 117 people have been killed in air accidents since the start of 2025.
As the industry was reeling from the Washington DC disaster that killed 67 people in January, a Delta Airlines flight crashed at Canada’s Toronto Pearson Airport when it tipped over on the runway in a fireball.
Then two aircraft collided mid-air near Arizona’s Marana Regional Airport on Wednesday. Two people died after one of the planes went up in flames when it hit the ground.
The list of 2025 accidents gets worse – and will likely make anyone already afraid of flying even more scared to step on a plane.
Six people died two days after the Washington DC tragedy when their medical plane plunged onto a residential street in Philadelphia, including a sick child.
Despite the string of high-profile crashes in the US that have raised questions over the safety of flying, January was the least deadly month ever since records began in 1982, according to official figures from the National Transport Safety Board.
While many of the major crashes have been in North America, airlines worldwide have also experienced disasters that have claimed lives.
Arizona plane accident
The US state has made headlines after two fatal crashes in 2025 alone.
An investigation is ongoing after two people died when a Cessna 172S and a Lancair 360 MK II aircraft collided mid-air yesterday over Marana Regional Airport. Two people inside the Lancair plane died when it hit the ground, causing a fire that destroyed the aircraft.
Another Arizona incident last week killed one person and injured four after a plane owned by Motley Crue star Vince Neil crashed at Scottsdale Airport.
Delta Airlines Toronto crash
All 80 people on board miraculously survived after the Delta Airlines Bombardier CRJ jet tipped upside down during landing at Toronto Pearson Airport. Delta said that only one person was still in hospital yesterday after 21 people were injured.
John Nelson, a passenger on board, said they felt how the jet hit the ground ‘super hard.’
‘It hit the ground, and the plane went sideways. It’s amazing that we’re still here,’ he told CNN.
While experts are reluctant to speculate on the cause of the crash until official investigation concludes, weather is thought to have played a role.
Aviation consultant Bernard Lavelle told Metro previously it is ‘very unusual’ for a plane to flip over like that, adding that unexpected wind shear could have made it slip.
Now, Delta has reportedly offered around £23,800 ($30,000) cash to each passenger, saying the money has ‘no strings attached’ and would not affect any litigation.
Alaska Bering Air plane disappearance
The Cessna 208B plane mysteriously disappeared off the radar when flying between Unalakleet and Nome in remote Alaska on February 6.
The wreckage with the bodies of ten people, including the pilot, was later discovered on the sea ice around 34 miles southeast of Nome.
Authorities said an unknown event made the plane lose elevation and speed before it crashed.
US military flight crashes in the Philippines
A US Marine and four army contractors died after their small Beechcraft B300 plane plunged into a rice field in the Ampatuan municipality on February 6.
The group was on a mission to provide ‘intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance support’ after a request by the allies in the Philippines, the AP reported citing the Indo-Pacific US command.
Residents said they heard an explosion before the aircraft fell to the ground near farmhouses.
Medical jet crash in Philadelphia
Dashcam footage captured the terrifying moment a Learjet 55 plane crashed into homes in Philadelphia on January 31 during a medical flight.
A sick girl was among the dead along with her mother. She was on her way home to Mexico after life-saving treatment at a children’s hospital. One person on the ground died when the plane hit the residential street and 19 people were injured.
The plane was just gaining altitude during the climb phase after departing from North Philadelphia Airport when it crashed. The National Transportation Safety Board said finding out the cause of the crash could take longer than usual as the operator, Jet Rescue Air Ambulance, is based in Mexico.
Washington DC American Airlines and helicopter crash
The Washington DC disaster opened the floodgates for speculation, fanned further by President Donald Trump as he took aim at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) before firing hundreds of staff at the watchdog.
The mid-air accident on January 29 killed all people on board the American Airlines flight along with three Black Hawk US army helicopter pilots who were on a doomsday training mission when the aircraft collided near Reagan National Airport.
Air traffic controllers have also come on the firing line after reports alleging that the staffing levels in the Reagan tower were not normal, which was denied by a source.
The Secretary of Transport, Sean Duffy, took to social media to defend the Trump administration after the high-profile aviation incidents, saying the ‘growing media narrative that there are more airplane crashes’ during Trump’s latest presidency than under Joe Biden ‘is false.’
Three people die after Venezuelan government plane accident
All three occupants travelling in the Cessna S550 plane operated by the Venezuelan ministry of interior and justice were killed after the aircraft was destroyed shortly after takeoff from Caracas.
The plane took off on January 29, but it quickly started to fall before crashing into a wooded area in the El Volcan sector of the Baruta municipality.
Eagle Air crash that killed 20 people in South Sudan
Oil rig workers died after a small Beechcraft 1900D plane crashed en route from the Unity oilfield to Juba.
Only one person survived the crash which killed Chinese nationals and one Indian national.
The exact circumstances surrounding the crash in war-torn South Sudan are not known, but President Salva Kiir said there would be a ‘thorough’ investigation.
Floating plane crash kills three people in Australia
The first fatal accident of 2025 saw a Cessna 208 Caravan plane equipped with sea floats crash into the pristine waters off Rottnest Island, Western Australia.
The flight was ferrying tourists when it fell into the ocean in Thomson Bay on January 7.
Four tourists survived, but three passengers and the pilot were killed.
The survivors were an Australian couple, and a Swiss and a Danish tourist.
Jeremy and Patricia Connor, from Perth, thanked the emergency services and members of the public who rescued them.
They said there ‘could have been an even more tragic outcome,’ according to ABC News Australia.
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