Aviation experts reveal why plane crashes are happening – after Kentucky cargo aircraft becomes latest in a long line of disasters

Over the last 12 months, there have been countless plane crashes – some fatal and many not. 

Just this week, a large UPS cargo plane exploded as it attempted to take off from Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport, Kentucky on Tuesday. 

Sadly, seven people were killed in the incident and 11 injured, though the governor has warned there may be more. 

UPS said it was ‘terribly saddened by the accident’ in a statement and insisted it ‘is committed to the safety of our employees, our customers and the communities we serve’.

It added that it is ‘engaged’ with the National Transportation Safety Board investigation and is ‘staying in close contact’ with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

‘We will work tirelessly with state and local authorities on response efforts,’ the company vowed.

The incident in Kentucky is one of many this year and according to the National Transportation Safety Board there have been 1,203 American civil aviation accidents in 2025 so far.

And, according to expert analysis, 2025 has been one of the deadliest years for air travel in the past decade.

In January, an Army helicopter and commercial jet collided near Washington DC and saw 67 fatalities. 

Just days later, another fatal crash happened in Philadelphia involving a medical transport plane.

Then, a Delta Connection Flight crashed in Toronto on February 17 this year.

Other crashes have happened, including one involving an Air India plane in June, in which 241 people lost their lives. 

Mr Richter told Bloomberg back in June: ‘This year still has more than six months to go, so this could be concerning if this rate of fatal accidents would go on.’

While each crash occurred for a complicated variety of different reasons, pilot Maria Fagerström says: ‘When they do happen, it’s usually not one single cause, it’s a chain of things like weather, human factors, maintenance decisions, etc.

‘Aviation works with layers of safety, so a lot has to go wrong before a serious accident happens.’

But experts have drawn attention to some worrying trends.

Dr Carla Dove, who works at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, previously said in BBC documentary Why Planes Crash: ‘The number of bird strikes reported each year is increasing. We don’t know the reason for this.’ 

Indeed, as the documentary highlighted, there were almost 20,000 bird aircraft collisions in the US in 2023 – a 14 per cent increase on the previous year. 

Though the majority of these cause little to no noticeable damage, bird strikes have the potential to be fatal, with more than 90 per cent occurring during takeoff and landing. 

By contrast, the collision of a military helicopter and a plane in mid-air in Washington DC four weeks later did not involve birds, and appeared to have occurred out of the blue. 

That particular night, on January 29, there was only a single air traffic controller on duty compared to the usual two people. 

Paul Rinaldi, from the national air traffic controllers association, told the programme:  ‘We failed’, while an initial report suggested staffing levels were ‘not normal for the time and volume of traffic’. 

Close analysis of audio recordings from the helicopter just 20 seconds before the crash showed the vehicle may not have received vital instructions to pass by the jet. 

However, pilot Maria adds ‘it’s important to keep perspective’ when it comes to the seemingly high rate of plane crashes.

‘Deadly crashes on commercial airliners are extremely rare,’ she assures.

‘A couple of large, tragic accidents can make a whole year appear statistically worse. That doesn’t automatically mean flying is becoming less safe. Aviation safety is measured over decades, not year by year. 

‘Every time something happens, the entire industry learns from it and updates procedures globally.

‘One big accident can make a whole year look bad statistically, but it’s important to remember that the overall accident rate keeps decreasing as air travel increases.’

While many people will likely now have concerns about the safety of air travel, Maria assures that flying is not actually getting more dangerous.

In fact, data from the Aviation Safety Network shows a decline in fatal accidents on commercial flights globally between 1970 and 2021.

And the last decade has been the safest on record, according to The Telegraph.   

Maria says it may just feel like planes are crashing more frequently, because we hear about mishaps more often through social media and online. 

She explains: ‘Even small, non-serious events get filmed by passengers and shared online. 

‘There are a lot more hobby investigators and aviation-themed accounts online. 

‘People create dramatic, click-bait crash videos or “analysis” content because it gets views and engagement. 

‘It intrigues people the same way road traffic accidents do, and we can’t help but look. 

‘It creates the feeling that these events are happening more often than they really are.’

Dr Simon Bennett, director of the civil safety and security unit at the University of Leicester, advises we need to look at the broader picture.

He previously told the Daily Mail: ‘That perception is understandable because safety goes through peaks and troughs.

‘So if you take a snapshot at a particular time it can either look like things are getting seriously dangerous or that things are getting seriously safe.’

Despite any concerns, Maria insists flying is still ‘one of the safest ways to travel’.

She says, ‘As pilots, we train constantly, we go through emergency scenarios in the simulator and are prepared for unlikely situations. 

‘Aeroplanes are built with backups for almost everything. 

‘You’re never relying on a single system or one person, there are multiple layers of protection.’