Overview

2025 North American Plane Crashes refers to memes and jokes about a series of aviation disasters that took place in North America in early 2025, soon after President Donald Trump took office. The crashes include the January 2025 Reagan Airport Crash that led to the deaths of 67 people, as well as several small but still fatal crashes, including one in Philadelphia that killed six, one in Alaska that killed 10 and another that left Minneapolis for Toronto that flipped upside down with no fatalities. The sudden uptick in aviation disasters came soon after President Trump vowed to remove DEI policies for federal workers alongside Elon Musk and D.O.G.E. and in the days following Sean Duffy taking over as Secretary of Transportation. This led to a number of jokes about former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg single-handedly holding the aviation industry together during Joe Biden's administration, often accompanied by various super-hero GIFs, as well as jokes about a lack of DEI policies leading to accidents.

Background

Reagan Airport Plane Crash

On January 29th, 2025, an American Airlines regional jet collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter over Washington, D.C., killing all 67 people on the jet and five crew members aboard the helicopter. The collision occurred in controlled airspace, prompting investigations into possible miscommunication between air traffic control and the military aircraft.^[1]

Philadelphia Jet Rescue Air Ambulance Crash

On January 31st, 2025, A Learjet 55 operated by Jet Rescue Air Ambulance carrying six Mexican nationals crashed shortly after takeoff from Philadelphia International Airport, killing all six people on board and one person on the ground. The flight was en route to Springfield-Branson National Airport and then to Tijuana, Mexico when it experienced engine failure, attempting an emergency return before crashing into a parking lot.^[2]

Alaska Bering Air Flight 445 Crash

On February 6th, 2025, a Cessna 208B Grand Caravan EX operated by Bering Air crashed into the icy waters of Norton Sound, Alaska during a routine commuter flight, killing all 10 occupants. The cause remains under investigation, but early reports suggest severe icing conditions contributed to the crash.^[3]

Delta Airlines Minneapolis to Toronto Crash

On February 17th, 2025, a Delta Air Lines jet arriving from Minneapolis flipped upside down after landing at Toronto Pearson Airport in heavy snow. All 80 people aboard survived, with only eight sustaining minor injuries. Investigators are looking into runway conditions and possible pilot error as contributing factors.

Instagram user @eggxit was one of the passengers rescued from the plane, posting a video of him exiting the crash on February 17th, 2025, and gathering over 4 million likes in a day.^[4]

Another angle showing the plane's failed landing attempt made the rounds online on February 18th, as seen in a post to the subreddit /r/DamnThatsInteresting by Redditor /u/RoyalChris, gathering over 63,000 upvotes in a day.^[12]

On February 18th, 2025, a female passenger rescued from the flipped Delta Air Line plane hosted an AMA on Reddit^[13] and answered questions about her experience surviving a plane crash. The post gathered over 13,000 upvotes in a day.

Online Reactions

Beginning with the Reagan Airport plane accident in late January 2025, the series of incidents sparked numerous reactions across the internet, including memes, discussions and conspiracy theories, among other types of content.

On January 31st, 2025, X^[5] user @PunishedChimp posted a GIF of the Joker, writing, "tonight, #DarkWoke crashed another plane. and every day wokeness is not reinstated in this country, people will DEI. starting tonight. I’m a they/them of my woooord." The post gathered an unknown number of likes before the account was suspended. A subsequent repost by @rxsonance__^[6] on February 12th gathered over 90,000 likes in five days.

On February 13th, X^[14] user @senzerules enacted the tweet using a Joker filter, gathering over 21,000 likes and 800,000 views in a week.

https://t.co/OU2hPjEMOc pic.twitter.com/vafKtofDaQ

— Spener (@senzerules) February 13, 2025

On February 10th, X^[7] user @highprogressive posted a version of the Days Since Last X meme, showing a man with Donald Trump's hair and an American flag shirt clapping in front of a sign that reads, "Days since last plane crash: 0000." The post gathered over 69,000 likes in a week.

Also on February 10th, 2025, Redditor^[11] /u/Scrueggs posted a meme to the /r/196 subreddit showing Donald Trump next to text that reads, "Listen up liberal: *Plane Crashes*," gathering over 8,000 upvotes in a week.

Pete Buttigieg as Secretary of Transportation

Several internet users also posted jokes about how the aviation disasters only occurred after Pete Buttigieg was replaced as Secretary of Transportation.

For instance, on February 12th, 2025, X^[8] user @SphealKent tweeted, "genuinely what the fuck was Pete Buttigieg doing," gathering over 87,000 likes in six days.

The post led to quote tweets by @ronkald^[9] and @dannythebaer^[10] that portrayed Buttigieg as Captain America holding down a helicopter and Spider-Man stopping a train, gathering over 100,000 and 10,000 likes, respectively, in roughly a week.

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References