President Donald Trump has spoken out after people questioned why there appear to be so many planes crashing in the US in recent months.
The year began with a tragic plane crash in Washington D.C. on January 29, when a commercial jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew collided with a US Military Black Hawk helicopter with three soldiers on board.
The plane had been coming in to land at Reagan Airport when it was struck by the helicopter, which was on a training mission, sending both aircraft plunging into the Potomac River, killing everyone on board.
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Just days later, a medical jet crashed in Philadelphia while on its way to Mexico, killing all six on board and one person on the ground below.
A small plane carrying 10 people also crashed in Alaska this year, killing everyone on board, and two people died in February after two planes collided in midair at Arizona's Marana Airport.
The latest incident also saw a small aircraft crash in a neighborhood in Pennsylvania on Sunday (March 9), landing on a row of parked cars and bursting into flames. All of the five on board were taken to local hospitals and their condition is unknown.
Last month, a Delta Airlines flight from Minneapolis to Toronto also flipped as it landed and burst into flames, though miraculously all on board made it out alive.
The apparent frequency of plane incidents this year led many to question why they have been occurring, and President Trump has shared his take.
When asked about the most recent incident and the role of Chris Rocheleau as head of the Federal Aviation Administration, Trump told Fox News: "That has nothing to do with the department. That was a small plane, it would have happened if you had a big department or a small department as you understand. They have spates like this.
"They have times when things happen a little bit more often than normal and then it goes back and then you go many years without having a problem."
Rocheleau was appointed as the new head of the FAA by Trump when he entered office in January, taking over from Mike Whittaker who'd resigned a day before when Joe Biden's tenure as president came to an end.
Trump went on to praise the pilot who narrowly avoided colliding with a private jet on the runway at Chicago Midway Airport last month, as they took back off moments after landing in order to avoid the jet that had suddenly appeared in its path.
He explained: "I think the Southwest pilot did a fantastic job last week when he lifted that plane off the air because if he'd put the brakes on that wouldn't have been good. I think the license for the pilot that got in his way should maybe be revoked.
"The way he immediately stepped on the gas and lifted it up as opposed to thinking for about three seconds, it would have been too late. The pilot or pilots did a great job."
Despite the recent incidents, flying remains an extremely safe mode of transport overall.
The IATA - the trade association of the world's airlines - revealed in its 2024 safety report released in February 2025 that there was on average one accident for every 880,000 flights in the last year, equating seven fatal accidents out of 40.6 million flights in 2024.
The year before, 2023, was labeled as "an exceptionally safe year" for air travel, with just 72 onboard fatalities compared to 244 in 2024.
The five-year average statistics have also improved greatly as between 2020 and 2024 there was just one accident for every 810,000 flights, whereas between 2011 and 2015 it was one accident for every 456,000 flights.