Featured Image Credit: Daniel Garrido via Getty
The year 2025 will be remembered for a lot of things, but alongside Donald Trump's return to the White House, the ever-evolving scandal involving the Epstein files, and the assassination of Charlie Kirk, it will also go down in history as a particularly troubled one for the aviation industry.
While 2024 ended with a particularly glum 416 deaths across 30 incidents involving planes and other crafts, 2025 has already topped that as the Aviation Safety Network confirms 515 fatalities during 149 occurrences.
The year got off to an unfortunate start when a Black Hawk helicopter and American Airlines Flight 5342 collided above the Potomac River, while the sole survivor of Air India 171 crash grabbed international headlines.
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Things continued into February's Bering Air Flight 445 that saw 10 people lose their lives, July's Angara Airlines Flight 2311, killing all 48 on board, and October's Emirates SkyCargo Flight 9788, which killed two ground personnel in Hong Kong.
There's been plenty of debate about why deadly plane crashes seem to be increasing, while all of these come at a time when President Donald Trump has been accused of stripping funds away from air traffic control, and the man himself has been seen blaming diversity hires.
Luckily, not every accident has ended in disaster, with near-misses including a Delta plane landing upside down in Toronto, and everyone escaping when Swiss Air Lines A330's engine burst into flames as it tried to take off.
The internet is full of harrowing footage of both deadly and miraculously avoided crashes, with one showing a small twin-engine plane landing on a Florida highway, leaving jaws on the floor.
As reported by KCRG, dashcam footage caught the moment the aircraft was forced to land on top of a car that was driving southbound on Interstate 95 in Florida's Brevard County.
Brevard County Fire Rescue confirmed that the 57-year-old female driver of the Toyota Camry was taken to the hospital with minor injuries.
It's said that both the pilot and passenger of the small plane were 27-year-old men but were unhamred during the crash.
The Federal Aviation Administration says the pilot reported engine issues before being left with no other choice but to attempt the emergency landing.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the plane left Merritt Island on an instructional flight, then lost power in both engines.
It has now launched an investigation into the incident, although many agree the driver is lucky to be alive.
Replying to footage of the accident, one person said: "You never feel more alive when you are closer to death."
Another joked: "Let me call you back, a plane just landed on me."
A third concluded: "Buy a lotto ticket lady, you are lucky to be able to walk away from that.” Thankfully, this is another of 2025's aviation miracles.
