Airplane crashes are the side of travelling none of us want to think about, but they are happening and some have dominated the news.
With the headlines covering how a plane from India crashed whilst travelling from Ahmedabad in India to London Gatwick this week, and earlier this year seeing an American Airlines plane crash in a collision with a military helicopter over Washington D.C., it can almost appear as though there are more plane crashes than ever - and appears like air travel is no longer safe.
So far in 2025 there have been eight commercial aircraft incidents this year around the world, as well as additional private and military aircraft crashes.
According to the Bureau of Aircraft Accident Archives, aircraft crash figures are now at 49 with a total of more than 250 deaths.
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Now a former commercial pilot, crash investigator and expert in accident causation has shed some light on why plane crashes are appearing to happen more often.
Shawn Pruchnicki, who previously worked for Delta Connection for a decade, revealed his experiences to the Daily Mail, including a near miss. He told the outlet: "I’m sorry to say that when news broke on January 29 that a commercial airliner had been struck by a Black Hawk helicopter in the skies above DC’s Reagan International Airport, I wasn’t surprised.
"I have long feared that it wasn’t a matter of ‘if’ such a catastrophe would happen but ‘where’ and ‘when'."
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Pruchnicki, who is now an Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University in the College of Engineering, also revealed his own experience of a near miss as he detailed how a plane on an adjacent runway nearly collided with his.
"I had just landed at JFK and a 747 was coming into land on a parallel runway. The control tower asked the pilot if he would be able to stop short of our location and he said that he could which meant they cleared us to cross the runway," he explained.
"We had a gut feeling that this pilot – who possibly wasn’t familiar with the airport - couldn’t do what he said and so we decided not to cross and to stay where we were.
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"A few moments later the 747 blasted through right in front of us, hurtling past at a high rate of speed. If we’d crossed the runway as directed, there would have been a collision."
Opening up on the reasons why crashes are becoming more common, he highlighted an issue with "the chronic shortage of air traffic controllers". He explained: "I feel for these controllers. They are over-worked and over-stressed – they know that if they make a mistake someone could die."
He continued to highlight potential crash factors, including another "valid concern" as he stated: "Regional and national airlines are hiring pilots and promoting them through the ranks with less experience than ever before."
He continued: "I’m not aware of any studies that focus on the impact of limited experience on flight safety, but the truth is that, without positive measures to address the problems in our skies, accidents will keep happening and more frequently. We need more qualified candidates in the pipeline for air traffic controllers."
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Pruchnicki added a stark warning, as he added: "We need to continue to develop and invest in technology that will help pilots and air traffic controllers do their jobs – not to replace them but to assist them.
"Make no mistake there is still a pretty good safety buffer in place in our skies but it’s shrinking, and we need to act now if we want to stop it from shrinking further."
Topics: Travel, Pilot, World News
Niamh Spence