Two small planes flew into each other close to Arizona’s Marana Regional Airport on the morning of Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, just two days after a plane crash-landed and flipped upside down in Toronto. The tragic incident in Arizona, which CNN has confirmed resulted in two fatalities, comes just under one month after the deadly collision at Washington, D.C.’s airport.
While Donald Trump will undoubtedly love to blame Joe Biden for this tragedy (as he has most other things since assuming his second presidency), it’s time for him to face the music. It was Trump’s brilliant idea to fire aviation specialists en masse because Elon Musk feels the need to overstep and be in charge of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). As reported by the BBC, hundreds (yes, hundreds) of probationary employees working for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) were laid off last Friday evening. One employee who was let go, Jason King, told BBC, “Aviation safety should never be treated as a budget item that can just be completely cut.”
As reported by CNN, the National Transportation Safety Board shared that a Lancair 360 MK II and Cessna 172S crashed into one another midair in Arizona near Marana Regional Airport’s runway 12. The FAA explained that at an airport like this one (that doesn’t have an air traffic control tower), pilots let each other know where they are thanks to the Common Traffic Advisory Frequency. The collision resulted in a “post-impact fire,” and the NTSB is looking into why this happened.
The high number of recent plane crashes prove that this is absolutely the worst place to decrease costs. In fact, more money should be invested in air safety, and safe skies mean more employees, not less. Trump might think he can point fingers at anyone for anything, but when you’re the President of the United States, you’re in charge. He makes the decisions and needs to own up to the consequences, period.
And no, signing a document and blaming others doesn’t count. According to the presidential memorandum Trump signed at the end of Jan. 2025, Biden-led DEI policies led to the Washington plane crash. As he said himself, “Incompetence might have played a role” and “very strong people” should be in control. Once again, Trump manages to be offensive and wrong at the same time. The lack of compassion is as astounding as it is startling.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 19, 2025
As CNN also pointed out, all eyes are on the aviation industry right now. Beside the Delta Airlines crash in Toronto, a pilot died when a private plane flew off a Scottsdale runway, and 10 were pronounced dead in a crash close to Nome, Alaska. A Philadelphia medevac plane also crashed, totaling four deadly plane tragedies since the new year.
One can’t help but wonder: Just how dangerous is flying right now? A 2024 survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that seven in 10 Democrats felt safe at the prospect of flying. A Feb. 2025 survey found that six in 10 Democrats thought the same thing. Also, when the survey was conducted in 2024, it found that 71% of Americans answered that traveling via planes is “somewhat safe” or “very safe.” In a Feb. 2025 survey, however, the number dipped to 64%. Shouldn’t 100% of people feel that nothing bad is going to happen when they get on a plane? Anxious flyers aside, the bulk of respondents shouldn’t be hovering what academia would deem “D territory.”
Some will argue that despite the tragic crashes of late, flying is still safe. Many have said for years that it’s more harmful to get in a car than on a plane. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University aviation safety professor Anthony Brickhouse told CNN that, “Aviation is the safest mode of transportation.” However, now that Trump is in office again and hundreds of aviation employees have been let go, it’s no wonder why not everyone shares that same sentiment. I’d argue that flying doesn’t feel safe at this moment in time and that people will continue to worry about it, especially as long as Trump is shrugging off safety concerns and pointing the finger at anyone else, ignoring the sea of fingers pointing back at him.
