DENVER (AP) — An American Airlines plane that caught fire after landing in Denver, sending 12 people to the hospital, is the latest in a string of aviation incidents that are fueling safety concerns about flying.
Incidents have ranged from the midair collision that killed 67 people near Washington in January to an airliner clipping another in February while taxiing at the Seattle airport.
Federal officials have tried to reassure travelers that flying is the safest mode of transportation, and statistics support that. But the cascade of headlines about things going wrong on airplanes is drawing increasing attention.
Here is a look at some of the recent tragedies and mishaps:
— Two small planes collided in midair near an Arizona airport in mid-February, killing two people who were on one of the aircraft. Following the collision, one plane landed uneventfully but the other hit the ground near a runway and caught fire. The crash happened at Marana Regional Airport near Tucson.
— A small commuter plane crashed in western Alaska in early February, killing all 10 people on board. The crash was one of the deadliest in the state in 25 years. Radar data indicated that the plane rapidly lost elevation and speed. The Coast Guard was unaware of any distress signals from the aircraft.
— A medical transport plane that had just taken off plummeted into a Philadelphia neighborhood in late January, killing all six people on board and one person on the ground. The National Transportation Safety Board said its cockpit voice recorder likely hadn't been functioning for years. The crew made no distress calls to air traffic control.
— The collision between an American Airlines passenger jet and an Army helicopter above the nation's capital killed everyone aboard both aircraft in late January. It was the deadliest plane crash in the U.S. since Nov. 12, 2001, when a jet slammed into a New York City neighborhood just after takeoff, killing all 260 people on board and five on the ground.
— A jetliner operated by Jeju Air skidded off a runway, slammed into a concrete fence and burst into flames in late December in South Korea after its landing gear apparently failed to deploy. All but two of the 181 people aboard were killed in one of that country’s worst aviation disasters.
— The American Airlines plane that caught fire at Denver International Airport on Thursday had been diverted there because the crew reported engine vibrations. While taxiing to the gate, an engine caught fire, prompting slides to be deployed so that passengers could evacuate quickly. The people taken to hospitals had minor injuries.
— A single-engine plane carrying five people crashed and burst into flames on Sunday in the parking lot of a retirement community near a small airport near Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Everyone on board survived. Three people were taken to an area burn center.
— A Delta Air Lines jet flipped over while landing at Toronto’s Pearson Airport in February. All 80 people on board survived, but some people received minor injuries. Witnesses and video from the scene showed the plane landing so hard that its right wing was sheared off. Investigators said that when trying to determine the cause, they would consider the weather conditions and the possibility of human error.
— A FedEx cargo plane made an emergency landing at a busy New Jersey airport earlier this month after a bird strike caused an engine fire that could be seen in the morning sky. The plane landed at Newark Liberty International Airport. There were no reported injuries.
— Pilots on a Southwest Airlines flight that was about to land at Chicago’s Midway Airport were forced to climb back into the sky to avoid another aircraft crossing the runway in late February. Video showed the plane approaching the runway before it abruptly pulled up as a business jet taxied onto the runway without authorization, federal officials said.
— In early February, a Japan Airlines plane was taxiing on the tarmac of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport when it apparently clipped the tail of a parked Delta plane. There were no injuries reported.
— In early January, passengers panicked when a man aboard a JetBlue plane that was taxiing for takeoff from Boston's Logan International Airport opened an exit door over a wing, trigging an emergency slide to inflate. Other passengers quickly restrained the man and the plane didn't take off.
In this image taken from video provided by Justus Rainey, passengers move away from a plane as smoke surrounded the aircraft, in Denver, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (Justus Rainey via AP)
In this image taken from video provided by Justus Rainey, passengers move away from a plane as smoke surrounded the aircraft, in Denver, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (Justus Rainey via AP)
ROME (AP) — Pope Francis said in a letter published Tuesday that his lengthy illness has helped make “more lucid” to him the absurdity of war, as his top deputy rejected any suggestion of resignation and Buckingham Palace announced plans for an upcoming audience with Britain's King Charles III.
Italian daily Corriere della Sera published a letter to the editor from Francis, signed and dated March 14 from Rome's Gemelli hospital where the 88-year-old pontiff has been treated since Feb. 14 for a complex lung infection and double pneumonia.
In it, Francis renewed his call for diplomacy and international organizations to find a “new vitality and credibility.” And he said that his own illness had also helped make some things clearer to him, including the “absurdity of war.”
“Human fragility has the power to make us more lucid about what endures and what passes, what brings life and what kills,” he wrote.
Responding to a letter from the newspaper’s editor-in-chief, Luciano Fontana, Francis also urged him and all those in the media to “feel the full importance of words.”
“They are never just words: they are facts that shape human environments. They can connect or divide, serve the truth or use it for other ends,” he wrote. “We must disarm words, to disarm minds and disarm the Earth.”
The letter was published as Francis registered slight improvements in his treatment and as the Vatican No. 2, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, shot down any suggestion the pope might resign.
“Absolutely no,” Parolin told journalists on Monday when asked if he and the pope had discussed a resignation. Parolin has visited Francis twice during his hospitalization, most recently on March 2, and said he found Francis better than during his first Feb. 25 visit.
Also on Tuesday, Francis received a standing ovation from the Italian Senate, after Premier Giorgia Meloni sent her greetings and said “not just this chamber, but all of the Italian people″ wish the pope a full recovery “as soon as possible.”
Meloni, who was the first outsider to visit the pope after he was hospitalized, said that “even in a trying moment, his strength and guidance have been felt.”
Francis for the second day spent some time off high flows of oxygen and used just ordinary supplemental oxygen delivered by a nasal tube, the Holy See press office said Tuesday. In addition, for the first time in several weeks he didn't use the noninvasive mechanical ventilation mask at night at all, to force his lungs to work more.
While those amount to “slight improvements,” the Vatican isn’t yet providing any timetable on when he might be released. That said, Buckingham Palace announced Monday that King Charles III was scheduled to meet with Francis on April 8 at the Vatican, assuming he is back and well enough.
Such state visits are always closely organized with Parolin's office. However, the Vatican press office on Tuesday declined to confirm the visit, noting that the Holy See only confirms papal audiences shortly before they happen.
The developments came as the Vatican released some details on the first photograph of Francis released since his hospitalization. The image, taken Sunday from behind, showed Francis sitting in his wheelchair in his private chapel in prayer without any sign of nasal tubes.
The photo, showing Francis wearing a Lenten purple stole, followed an audio message the pope recorded March 6 in which he thanked people for their prayers, his voice soft and labored.
Together, they suggested Francis is very much controlling how the public follows his illness to prevent it from turning into a spectacle. While many in the Vatican have held up St. John Paul II’s long and public battle with Parkinson’s disease and other ailments as a humble sign of his willingness to show his frailties, others criticized it as excessive and glorifying sickness.
The image certainly reassured some well-wishers who came to Gemelli to pray for Francis, who is recovering in the 10th-floor papal suite reserved for popes.
“After a month of hospitalization, finally a photo that can assure us that his health conditions are better,” said the Rev. Enrico Antonio, a priest from Pescara.
But Benedetta Flagiello of Naples, who was visiting her sister at Gemelli, wondered if the photo was even real.
“Because if the pope can sit for a moment without a mask, without anything, why didn’t he look out the window on the 10th floor to be seen by everyone?” she asked. “If you remember our old pope (John Paul II), he couldn’t speak up, but he showed up.”
Associated Press writers Paolo Santalucia and Silvia Stellacci contributed to this report.
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Faithful pray in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, during a vigil rosary for the recovery of Pope Francis, Monday, March 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Faithful pray in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, during a vigil rosary for the recovery of Pope Francis, Monday, March 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
FILE - Pope Francis arrives for his weekly general audience in the Paul VI Hall, at the Vatican, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)
Cardinal Dominique Mamberti prays in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, during a vigil rosary for the recovery of Pope Francis, Monday, March 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
This picture released by the Vatican Press Office shows Pope Francis concelebrating a mass inside his private chapel att the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome on Sunday, March 16, 2025. (Vatican Press Office, Via AP )
