Since the beginning of this year, it feels like every time you scroll through social media the news is broadcasting yet another plane crash. Stories of landing incidents and mid-air collisions have made everyone spiral about going on a flight. My question is, whose fault is it? The media or the airlines? Have we cut airline travel safety or has the media become enticed with featuring incidents?

For example, take the Delta flight that crashed in Toronto on Feb. 17, 2025. The flight overturned on the runway when landing in Canada, resulting in some injuries but thankfully no deaths. Delta Airlines is known to be consistently one of the highest-ranked airlines in the U.S., so it isn’t much of a surprise that this story became widespread across media platforms. Although, we all have to admit that the story spread around like it was the worst disaster ever. It leaves us wondering what could possibly be happening right now with airlines when even the most trustworthy ones are dropping like flies. 

So what’s actually happening? Air travel is still one of the safest modes of transportation. You are much more likely to get in a car crash than get in a plane crash. Plane crashes are extremely rare, and the risk of getting killed in one is about 1 in 11 million. Social media only amplifies plane crashes because they are uncommon. They try to trigger emotions in the audience and drive engagement by speculating and escalating on the news, even if this airline safety is the same as it’s always been. If anything, security has only been improving in recent years. The media has attracted much more attention to standard incidents, resulting in the reinforcement of the idea that flying is risky. Just because we hear more about plane incidents doesn’t mean they are happening more often. 

At the end of the day, flying is just as safe as it’s always been. So, the next time you see a plane crash video, question whether it’s just part of the new media trend or a serious incident. Chances are that the media is just escalating the event and speculating on unrelated causes to the incidents.