A spate of air travel incidents, including the Jan. 29 collision between an Army helicopter and a plane over the Potomac River that killed 67, have Americans asking, “Is it safe to fly?”

On a zero to 100 scale rating how popular a term is over a period of time, in this case 90 days, Google searches for that phrase in the U.S. have spiked, reaching a 44 on Feb. 7, a 63 on Feb. 11 and a peak of 100 on Tuesday, according to Google search data.

In addition to the Jan. 29 crash in the District of Columbia, a Jan. 31 crash of a medical evacuation plane in Philadelphia killed all six aboard and a person on the ground, a Feb. 6 crash of a small plane in Alaska killed all 10 aboard, and a Feb. 10 collision of two private jets on the ground in Scottsdale, Arizona, killed one.

On Monday, a plane flipped over after landing at Toronto Pearson International Airport, with 21 injured.

On Wednesday, two single-engine planes collided in midair over Marana Regional Airport in Arizona, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. That crash killed two, reported USA Today. 

The U.S. had seven fatal and 44 nonfatal air accidents in January, followed by two fatal and 29 nonfatal aviation crashes in February, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. 

An Associated Press poll found that 64% of Americans rated air travel as very or somewhat safe, down from 2024 when 71% of respondents had confidence that flying was safe. Conversely, about 20% of Americans now say flying is very or somewhat unsafe, up from 12% in 2024.

• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.