All the recent aviation disasters and close calls have people worried about the safety of flying.Themidair collisionthat killed 67 near Washington, D.C., last month was the worst disaster. But there was also the plane thatcrashed and flipped overupon landing in Toronto, thefiery plane crashin Philadelphia and aplane crash in Alaska that killed 10, as well as two small planes thatcollided in Arizona. Those all came before the scary moment this week in Chicago when a Southwest Airlines plane had toabort its landing to avoid crashinginto another plane crossing the runway. A plane landing at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport also had toperform a go-around maneuverTuesday to avoid getting too close to another aircraft departing from the same runway.Thats not to mention the time earlier this month when a Japan Airlines planeclipped a parked Delta planewhile it was taxiing at the Seattle airport, or thesecurity concernsthat arose after stowaways were found dead inside thewheel wellsof two planes and aboard two other flights. In addition, a United Airlines planecaught fireduring takeoff at the Houston airport and a passengeropened an emergency exit dooron a plane while it was taxiing for takeoff in Boston.So of course people are wondering whether theirflight is safe?What happened in the worst cases?The Jan. 29 collision between an American Airlines passenger jet and an Army helicopter killed everyone aboard both aircraft. It was thedeadliest 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. After that, there hadnt been a deadly crash of any kind involving a U.S. airliner since February 2009.crasd Everyone survived that crash.Crashes are more common involving smaller planes, like the single-engine Cessna that crashed inAlaska onFeb. 6, or the two small planes thatcollided in Arizonaon Feb. 19. Ten people including the pilot were killed in the Alaska crash, and two died in the Arizona one.Amedical transportation plane crashedin Philadelphia on Jan. 31, killing the six people onboard and another person on the ground. That Learjet generated a massive fireball when it smashed into the ground in a neighborhood not long after taking off from a small airport nearby.How worried should I be?Fatal crashes attract extraordinary attention partly because they are rare. The track record of U.S. airlines is remarkably safe, as demonstrated by the long stretch between fatal crashes.But deadly crashes have happened more recently elsewhere around the world, including one in South Korea thatkilled all 179 peopleaboard in December. There were also two fatal crashes involving Boeings troubled 737 Max jetliner in 2018 and 2019. And last January, adoor plugblew off a 737 Max while it was in flight, raising more questions about the plane.Federal officialshave been raising concernsabout an overtaxed and understaffed air traffic control system for years, especially after a series of close calls between planes at U.S. airports. Among the reasons they have cited for staffing shortages are uncompetitive pay, long shifts, intensive training and mandatory retirements.President Donald Trump added to those concerns when heblamed the midair collisionover Washington D.C. on the obsolete air traffic control system that airports rely on and promised to replace it.Even with all that, officials have tried to reassure travelers that flying is the safest mode of transportation. And statistics back that up.The National Safety Council estimates that Americans have a 1-in-93 chance of dying in a motor vehicle crash, while deaths on airplanes aretoo rare to calculatethe odds. Figures from theU.S. Department of Transportationtell a similar story.What is being done?The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration are investigating these recent crashes and close calls to determine what caused them and look for ways to prevent recurrences.There have already been troubling revelations about the midair collision, but it will take more than a year to get the full report on what happened.The NTSB always recommends steps that could be taken to prevent crashes from happening again, but the agency has a long list of hundreds of previous recommendations that have been ignored by other government agencies and the industries it investigates.Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has said the public is right to say that crashes like the recent ones are unacceptable. That is why he plans to make sure safety is paramount as he leads the agency that regulates all modes of transportation.I feel really good about where were at and where were going and the plans we have in place to make sure we even make the system safer and more efficient than it is today, Duffy said in a Fox News interview.Josh Funk, Associated Press