If you spent any time scrolling through social media or watching the news last year, you probably felt like the sky was literally falling. From doors popping off mid-flight to terrifying runway close calls, aviation dominated the headlines in a way we haven't seen in a decade. It makes sense why people are constantly searching for exactly how many plane crashes in the United states in 2024 actually occurred. We want to know if that "gut feeling" of dread before a flight is backed by data or just a side effect of a 24-hour news cycle.
Honestly, the answer is more layered than just a single number.
When people ask this question, they’re usually thinking of big commercial jets—the Uniteds, Deltas, and Southwest flights of the world. But the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) tracks everything: from the massive Boeing 737s to a tiny single-engine Cessna used for flight lessons in rural Kansas. If we look at the raw data for 2024, the NTSB logged 1,199 aviation incidents and accidents across the United States. Out of those, 180 were fatal.
Breaking Down the 2024 Numbers
Let's get the big one out of the way. How many major commercial airline crashes were there in 2024?
Zero.
Well, zero "crashes" in the way most people imagine them (a hull loss with mass casualties). In fact, the U.S. commercial airline industry maintained its incredible streak of safety regarding passenger fatalities on major domestic carriers. But—and this is a big "but"—the year was defined by "incidents" that felt like crashes to the people on board.
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Take the Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 situation in January 2024. A door plug blew out of a Boeing 737 MAX 9 at 16,000 feet. It was harrowing. It was a "miracle" no one was sitting in seat 26A. Technically, the NTSB classifies this as an accident because of the structural failure, but everyone walked away.
The General Aviation Reality
The bulk of those 1,199 accidents didn't happen to airlines. They happened in "General Aviation" (GA). This is the world of private pilots, crop dusters, and corporate jets.
- Total Accidents: 1,199
- Fatal Accidents: 180
- Total Fatalities: Approximately 244 (this includes crew and passengers)
If you're looking at the GA sector, 2024 was actually a year of strange contradictions. The FAA pointed out that the fatal accident rate for private flying reached some of its lowest levels since 2009. Yet, we still had high-profile tragedies, like the Hop-A-Jet Flight 823 crash on I-75 in Florida. That was a private Challenger 600 jet that lost both engines and tried to land on a highway, killing two people on board.
It’s these types of events—captured on dashcams and shared instantly—that make us feel like flying is getting more dangerous, even when the macro-level data says the opposite.
Why Does It Feel Like There Were More Crashes?
Psychologically, 2024 was a tough year for aviation's reputation. We saw a spike in "runway incursions"—basically, planes getting way too close to each other on the ground or during takeoff.
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The NTSB and FAA spent a lot of time investigating "near-misses" at airports like Austin-Bergstrom and JFK. While these aren't "crashes," they are the "precursors" to them. When the public hears about five near-collisions in a month, the search volume for how many plane crashes in the United states in 2024 spikes because the margin for error feels like it's thinning.
There's also the "Boeing Factor." In 2024, the manufacturer faced relentless scrutiny. Between the Alaska Airlines blowout and various whistleblowers coming forward to talk about production line issues, the public trust took a nosedive. Every time a Boeing plane had a minor mechanical issue—even a flat tire or a cracked windshield, which happens to all makes of planes—it became national news.
The Most Common Causes in 2024
When planes did go down in 2024, the reasons usually fell into a few specific buckets. For the GA community, the "Deadly Trio" remained consistent:
- Loss of Control In-Flight (LOC-I): This is usually where a pilot stalls the plane or gets disoriented.
- Powerplant Failure: Engine issues, often during takeoff or landing.
- VFR into IMC: This is pilot-speak for "someone who isn't trained to fly in clouds accidentally flying into clouds."
For the commercial world, the focus shifted to human performance and maintenance quality. The FAA actually increased its oversight of United Airlines and Boeing significantly in 2024 to address what they called "systemic safety issues."
Perspective: Flying vs. Everything Else
I know it sounds like a cliché, but the "safest way to travel" line still holds up, even after 2024.
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Think about this: there were roughly 40.6 million flights globally in 2024. In the U.S. alone, millions of people took off and landed every single day without a scratch. If you look at the 180 fatal accidents mentioned earlier, almost all of them involved small, private aircraft where the safety requirements and redundant systems are nothing like what you find on a Boeing 787 or an Airbus A350.
The "fatality risk" for a passenger on a commercial flight remained at approximately 0.06 per million flights. You are statistically more likely to be struck by lightning twice than to be in a fatal commercial jet crash in the United States.
What's Changing for 2025 and 2026?
The "scary" year of 2024 forced the industry's hand. We are now seeing a massive push for new tech to prevent the "near misses" that defined last year.
- Surface Awareness Initiative: The FAA is fast-tracking tech that alerts controllers if two planes are on a collision course on the runway.
- Enhanced Training: Airlines are revamping "CRM" (Cockpit Resource Management) to deal with the high-stress environments that led to some of the 2024 close calls.
- Boeing’s Overhaul: After the door plug incident, the manufacturing process for the 737 line was completely slowed down to prioritize "quality over clock-time."
Actionable Insights for Nervous Flyers
If the 2024 stats still have you feeling uneasy, here is what you can actually do to feel more in control:
- Check the "Equipment" on your booking: If you’re truly worried about a specific aircraft model, you can see if you're flying on a Boeing 737 MAX or an Airbus A320 during the booking process.
- Focus on Part 121 Carriers: In the U.S., major airlines operate under "Part 121" regulations, which are the gold standard of safety. Charter flights and "flight-sharing" apps often operate under "Part 135" or "Part 91," which have different (and generally less stringent) oversight.
- Watch the NTSB Preliminary Reports: If you see a scary headline, go to the NTSB website. They usually release a "Preliminary Report" within 15 days of an accident. It often reveals that what looked like a "mysterious crash" was actually a very specific, rare mechanical failure or a clear pilot error that doesn't apply to your upcoming flight.
While the number of how many plane crashes in the United states in 2024 might look high on paper, the context reveals a system that is still remarkably robust. We are living in an era where an "accident" is now a door plug blowing out—terrifying, yes, but a survivable event—rather than the catastrophic hull losses of the 1970s and 80s. Safety is a moving target, and 2024 was simply the year the industry was reminded it can't afford to stop moving.