In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume

I really enjoyed this book and read it quickly.
I had no idea about the 3 plane crashes in Elizabeth, NJ in the early 50's but, I was a toddler and wouldn't know. But I wonder if those events were the cause of my mom's fear of flying. She was a fearful person, in general, but especially fearful of flying. And at the time of these three crashes, she was a young mother living in Buffalo, NY.
Review from Library website:

"...the story of three generations of an Elizabeth, New Jersey, family: her protagonist, 15-year-old Miri; Miri's mother, Rusty; and Miri's grandmother, Irene. Their lives and those of their friends are impacted when a plane falls out of the sky over Elizabeth, and, in the course of the next 58 days, two others follow. Miri's friends are sure it's the work of aliens or zombies or, more simply, sabotage. Miri's reporter uncle, Henry, who will make his reputation covering the crashes for the local newspaper, says they're coincidences. But who is to say? In the meantime, Miri's boyfriend, Mason, becomes a hero in the wake of the third crash, but will their relationship survive? Like many family stories, this one is not without its life-changing secrets and surprises. There is no surprise that the book is smoothly written, and its story compelling. The setting the early 1950s is especially well realized through period references and incidents: God Bless America sung by Kate Smith, praying in public schools, reading the new novel Catcher in the Rye, watching Your Hit Parade on TV, and more. With its focus on Miri's coming-of-age, this could have been published as a YA novel, and it will doubtless reach a wide crossover readership.