Plane crashes in Toronto, Texas, Washington D. C.... Is it the month with the most air accidents in history?

There have been an unusual number of aviation incidents and crashes in recent weeks, the most recent of which saw a Delta Air Lines plane flip over at Toronto Pearson Airport in Canada on its arrival from Minneapolis.

All 80 people on board the aircraft were safely evacuated, although three people are said to be being treated for “critical” injuries, which aren’t thought to be life-threatening.

Flying is often said to be the safest means by which to travel, and that remains the case despite a series of high-profile incidents in the last few weeks.

Recent aviation crashes and incidents

On January 29, 67 people were killed when an Army Black Hawk helicopter collided with an American Airlines regional jet which was just about to land at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington. Both aircraft ended up in the Potomac River.

Two days later, a small medical plane crashed near a shopping mall in northeast Philadelphia, killing six people on board and one person on the ground.

On February 6, a Bering Air Flight disappeared over the Norton Sound off the western coast of Alaska. The crash site, including 10 bodies, was located the following day.

There have also been other incidents which, thankfully, haven’t resulted in fatalities. A Delta flight from Minneapolis to Amsterdam returned to Minnesota because of a problem with the plane’s flaps (February 2).

A plane’s wing caught fire at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport just as it was about to take off for New York on the very same day.

On February 9, a Japan Airlines plane clipped a parked Delta aircraft while taxiing at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (February 9).

On February 16, a plane caught fire mid-flight at the WBCA Stars & Stripes Air Show in Laredo, Texas. The pilot, a man in his 70s, was the only person on board and is recovering in hospital.

Also on February 16, a small plane was found upside down in a wooded area near Pearland Regional Airport in Texas. The pilot was unable to walk away from the crash without any visible injuries.

August 1985: the worst month in aviation history?

Although 9/11 may forever be considered the most shocking aviation-related disaster (265 of the 2,996 fatalities were passengers and crews), the month generally considered to be the “worst” in (commercial) aviation history is August 1985.

137 people were killed at Dallas/Forth Worth International Airport after a Delta aircraft encountered a microburst, struck the ground, crashed and exploded as it was taking off (August 2).

520 people lost their lives after a Japan Air Lines flight crashed into the side of a mountain on its way to Osaka. This remains the worst single-aircraft disaster in history (August 12).

55 people were killed in Manchester, England after an engine caught fire just as a British Airtours flight was about to take off. 82 people managed to escape (August 22).

All eight passengers died when a Bar Harbor Airlines Flight crashed on its final approach to Auburn/Lewiston Municipal Airport in Maine (August 25).

How safe is flying?

If you have suddenly got nervous about flying, there’s no need. According to calculations by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a person’s odds of dying in a plane crash is approximately one in 13.7 million.

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