Here's a look at recent aircraft tragedies, mishaps and close calls (2025)

Thecrash of a small plane in New York over the weekendkilled all six on board — a physician couple and their accomplished children and partners — during a family trip to the Catskills.

It’s the latest in a series of aviation disasters at a time of heightened scrutiny of aircraft collisions and near-misses.

The most deadly was thecollision of a passenger jet and a military helicopterover the Potomac River that that killed 67 people in January. In February, one airlinerclipped anotherwhile taxiing at the Seattle airport. In March, an American Airlines planecaught fire after landing in Denver, sending 12 people to the hospital.

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 things going wrong is drawing increasing attention amiddeclining confidence in air travelandcuts at the Federal Aviation Administration,part of President Donald Trump’s efforts to downsize the federal government.

Here is a look at some of the recent aircraft tragedies and mishaps:

Fatal crashes

— Thetwin-engine Mitsubishi MU-2Bwent down shortly after noon Saturday in a muddy field in Copake, New York, near the Massachusetts line, shortly after the pilot radioed air traffic control at Columbia County Airport to say he had missed the initial approach and requested a new landing plan.

— Six people were killed this month when a sightseeinghelicopter broke apart and crashedinto the Hudson River. Thehelicopterlifted off from a New York City heliport, flying north along the Manhattan skyline and then south toward the Statue of Liberty before hitting the water. Thepilot was killedalong with afamily from Spainthat wascelebrating the ninth birthdayof one of their children.

— Three people were killed and one was injured when asmall plane crashed Friday morningnear an interstate highway and pushed a car onto railroad tracks in Boca Raton, Florida.

— Two small planes collided near an Arizona airport in mid-February. One managed to land uneventfully, but the other hit the ground near a runway and caught fire,killing two peopleat Marana Regional Airport near Tucson.

— A small commuter planecrashed in western Alaskain early February, killing all 10 people on board. The crash wasone of the deadliestin the state in 25 years.Radar data indicatedthat the plane rapidly lost elevation afteran air traffic controller told it to slow down in icy weatherso the runway at their destination could be de-iced.

— A medical transport planeplummeted into a Philadelphia neighborhoodafter taking off in January, killing all six people on board and one person on the ground. 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 an Army helicopterabove the nation’s capitalkilled everyone aboard both aircraft in late January. It was thedeadliest 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 andburst into flamesin December after its landing gear apparently failed to deploy, killing all but two of the 181 people aboard in one of South Korea’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. While taxiing to the gate, an engine caught fire,prompting slides to be deployedso that passengers could evacuate quickly. The people taken to hospitals had minor injuries.

— A single-engine plane carrying five peoplecrashed and burst into flamesin the parking lot of a retirement community near a small airport outside Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in March. Everyone on board survived. Three people were taken to a burn center.

— A Delta Air Lines jetflipped overwhile 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 sceneshowed the plane landingso hard that its right wing was sheared off. Investigators were examining the weather conditions and the possibility of human error.

Close calls

— In April, on the same day as the fatal New York helicopter crash, a wing tip of an American Airlines planestruck another planefrom the same airline on a taxiway of the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. 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 strikecaused an engine firethat 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 skyto avoid another aircraftcrossing the runway in 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 February, a Japan Airlines plane was taxiing on the tarmac of Seattle-Tacoma International Airportwhen it apparently clipped the tailof a parked Delta plane. There were no injuries reported.

— In January, passengers panicked when a man aboard a JetBlue plane that was taxiing for takeoff from Boston’s Logan International Airportopened an exit doorover a wing, trigging an emergency slide to inflate. Other passengers quickly restrained the man and the plane didn’t take off.