Sopuruchi Onwuka, with agency reports
Last year earned a prominent space in history for its high rate of aviation incidents, with the last three months of 2024 marking a spread of remarkable accidents that cane with high human tolls.
However, what has remained a remarkable concern is the continuous spate of incidents in the American aviation space which has recorded high rate of incidents including fatal plunges and in the new year.
Despite the staggering number of air travel incidents in 2024, the new spate of recent aviation disasters and close calls has raised safety concerns among frequent fliers with routes cutting through the United States.
It would be recalled that only in the United States alone early in the year, midair collision killed 67 near Washington, the fiery plane crash in Philadelphia and Alaska headline new disasters for the country busiest airports in the world.
In the lower category of non fatal incidents in the new year, a Japan Airlines plane clipped a parked Delta plane while it was taxiing at the Seattle airport and a United Airlines plane caught fire during takeoff at the Houston airport after an engine problem sparked a fire on the wing.
There were also some other reports of stowaways that were found dead inside the wheel wells of two planes. Two other flights also recorded stowaways onboard.
The recent crashes are dominated by smaller planes like the single-engine Cessna that crashed in Alaska and killed 10 people including the pilot.
A medical transportation plane generated a massive fireball when it smashed into the ground in a neighborhood when it crashed when in Philadelphia on Jan. 31, killing the six people onboard and another person on the ground.
Whereas the National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration of the United States investigate the recent crashes and close calls the agencies point at a long list of hundreds of previous recommendations that have been ignored by other government agencies and the industries.
There are also emerging incidents where the incidents are totally beyond the conscious control of industry players. Some are clear emergencies on board!
For instance, an EasyJet flight from Manchester to Egypt was forced to carry out an emergency landing after a pilot on board collapsed. The plane had been travelling from Hurghada in Egypt to the northern English city on Saturday evening but had to be diverted to Athens when one of the pilots had a medical emergency.
As soon as the pilot collapsed, cabin crew members were seen rushing to the front of the plane, as the passengers on board started to realise something was wrong two hours into the flight
One passenger stated that crew members then ‘screamed if anyone was medically trained’, leading to a few ‘getting up and assisting the cabin crew.’
He said a following call was from the cabin crew explained that the captain was seeking medical attention.
The passenger said those on board were ‘rather worried and anxious’ after finding out the pilot had collapsed and were told by the crew they needed to make an emergency landing.
Thankfully, the remaining pilot was able to carry out the ‘very rough and scary’ landing safely, which allowed paramedics to enter the aircraft and provide treatment.
After touching down safely, the crew and passengers were greeted by a large number of fire engines, police cars and ambulances. The passenger added that the cabin crew and co-pilot had been ‘fantastic’ and said everyone gave the latter ‘a very big well done’ after he had completed the landing.
