Honestly, whenever you open a news app and see a headline about a plane going down, it feels like the sky is falling. Literally. It’s scary. People start texting their friends, canceling flights, or just staring at the ceiling wondering if they should have taken the train. But if you're asking how many plane crashes this month have actually happened, the answer is usually way more nuanced than a single "scary" number.
As of mid-January 2026, we’ve seen a handful of high-profile incidents that make it feel like a dangerous month, but the data tells a bit of a different story.
The Reality of January’s Flight Log
We've had about five notable incidents involving commercial or larger general aviation aircraft so far this month.
Take January 2nd, for example. An MD 369FF helicopter crashed in Superior, Arizona. Four people were on board, and the FAA and NTSB are still digging through the wreckage to figure out why. Just two days later, a Cape Air flight—Flight 501—skidded into a snowbank in Rutland, Vermont. It wasn't a "crash" in the Hollywood sense where everything explodes, but it’s still a terrifying experience for the six people on board.
The big one that caught everyone's attention happened on January 11th. A small plane went down in the Colorado mountains north of Dotsero after an engine failure. The pilot? He basically walked away with a minor cut. That’s the kind of stuff that doesn't usually make the front page unless there's a camera crew nearby, but it counts toward the total.
Why It Feels Like More
Psychologically, we are wired to notice clusters.
If you see two crashes in a week, your brain screams "trend!" Even if, statistically, those two events are completely unrelated. In 2025, the U.S. averaged about 3.4 plane crashes per day. Yeah, you read that right. Three. Per. Day. But the vast majority of those are tiny private planes—Cessnas or Pipers—clipping a fence during a landing or having a mechanical hiccup in a remote field.
Commercial travel—the big Boeings and Airbuses—is a totally different animal.
"Small plane crashes happen far more often than you probably think," says aviation analyst Collin Woodard. Most are covered locally, if at all.
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Breaking Down the Incidents: A Closer Look
- January 2, 2026: Helicopter crash in Superior, AZ. Investigation ongoing.
- January 4, 2026: Cape Air Flight 501 skidded off a runway in Vermont. Winter weather was a massive factor.
- January 5, 2026: JSX Flight 1121 blew tires at Teterboro. No injuries, but it shut down the runway for a bit.
- January 8, 2026: A Cirrus SR22 ran off the end of the runway in West Virginia.
- January 11, 2026: The Colorado mountain crash. Engine failure led to a tree strike.
The Myth of the "Unsafe" Month
There's no such thing as a "cursed" month for flying. Aviation safety is basically a series of layers—the Swiss Cheese Model. For a crash to happen, the holes in the cheese (bad weather, mechanical failure, pilot fatigue) have to line up perfectly.
Just because how many plane crashes this month might seem high doesn't mean the system is failing. In fact, if we look back at January 2024 or 2025, the numbers are fairly consistent. The difference is usually just how many "famous" people were involved or how dramatic the photos looked on social media.
What Actually Causes These Crashes?
Weather is the big one in January. Icing, low visibility, and high winds are a nightmare for smaller aircraft that don't have the sophisticated de-icing tech of a Dreamliner.
Then there’s human error. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada recently released a report on an older crash, noting that "plan-continuation bias" is a silent killer. That’s basically a fancy way of saying the pilot was so determined to land that they ignored the fact that they couldn't see the ground. It happens more than you'd think.
Is It Safe to Fly Right Now?
Short answer: Yes.
Longer answer: You’re still way more likely to get hurt driving to the airport than actually being in the plane. Commercial aviation remains the safest mode of transport ever invented. If you’re flying a major airline, your risk is essentially zero.
If you’re worried about how many plane crashes this month have occurred, remember that "incidents" (like a blown tire or a skid) are often lumped in with "accidents" in news reports, which inflates the fear factor.
How to Stay Informed Without Going Crazy
If you're a nervous flyer, don't just refresh Twitter. Use actual data sources.
Check the NTSB’s monthly index or the Aviation Safety Network. They provide the cold, hard facts without the clickbait headlines. It’s also worth looking at the "incident" reports—you’ll see that most "crashes" result in zero injuries.
Next Steps for You:
If you have a flight coming up, check the weather forecast for your departure and arrival cities. If you see "winter storm," expect delays, not disasters. Airlines would much rather cancel a flight and lose money than risk an incident in bad icing conditions. You can also track your specific tail number on sites like FlightAware to see its recent history, which usually shows it’s been flying 10 times a day with zero issues.
Stay calm, keep your seatbelt fastened, and remember that even in a month with a few headlines, the system is working exactly how it was designed to.