Since the beginning of 2025, there have been 19 deadly plane crashes; resulting in 106 deaths among passengers and pilots. With trust relating to aviation decreases and uncertainty rises, tensions between passengers and airlines have become a growing topic in the media over the past few months. While airlines struggle to address concerns properly, the public continues to grow fearful for their future travels.
Lucy Sandoval, a Kern County civilian, recently traveled to Nashville, Tennessee for a bachelorette. Sandoval states that she had been closely following any aviation news as she grew more anxious the closer her trip came. “I remember hearing there was a plane crash everyday- it was like one after another for almost two months straight it felt like,” she expresses. Since following the news, Sandoval had built her own opinion surrounding the airline’s response to the crashes. “I think it’s weird that there’s little to no explanation on why these crashes are happening. They seem to only give condolences to the victim’s families but never seem to give clarity to the public, only making anxiety worse, including mine,” she explains. Sandoval recently returned from Nashville on March 13, 2025 and claims the news tainted her experience traveling to and from her destination. “Overall, I am just grateful I am home and safe and very fortunate I had a smooth plane ride,” she concludes.
Manveer Singh, a current sophomore at Ridgeview High School, is on track to leave for a week-long trip to New York in April. Singh has shown some anxiety surrounding the plane ride by expressing, “I won’t lie, the more I hear about the planes news, the more I can’t help but be a little scared. I’m sure everything will be alright, I don’t believe in thinking negatively about the future.” Singh has been a loose follower of the aviation news this year but still displays concern and confusion over the tragedies. “I feel immense sadness for the victims and how quickly their lives were taken. I hope this will encourage airlines to fix this problem faster before it continues to get more out of hand,” Singh conveys.
Alayna Trevino, a current student at Ridgeview High school, is joining the same New York trip in April. Trevino has only heard the aviation news in passing and hasn’t done much research into it. “This will be my fifth or sixth time flying and I don’t usually have much airplane anxiety but the news has sort of skewed my excitement for this trip,” Trevino explains. Trevino continues to look positively on the trip as she still believes there haven’t been enough accidents for her to be extremely worried. “Thankfully, there haven’t been a hundred crashes, so that keeps me hopeful and more at ease,” Trevino claims. As the news continues to be a hot topic amongst social media platforms, Trevino feels saddened by the victims and the continuous mistakes made by the airlines. “Everytime I see a video about the victims’ families, it makes me sad and I just hope they’re getting the compensation and help they need from those tragedies. I also hope the airlines and the engineers working behind the planes are continuing to make their planes safer and become even more cautious,” Trevino expresses.
