Posted on 05/17/2026 3:49:43 PM PDT by equaviator
BOISE, Idaho — All four crew members ejected safely after two Navy jets collided and crashed on Sunday during an air show at the Mountain Home Air Force Base in western Idaho, officials said.
The collision involved two U.S. Navy EA18-G Growlers from the Electronic Attack Squadron 129 in Whidbey Island, Washington, said Cmdr. Amelia Umayam, spokesperson for Naval Air Forces, U.S. Pacific Fleet.
The aircraft were performing an aerial demonstration when the crash happened, Umayam said in a statement. The four crew members from both jets safely ejected and the crash was under investigation, she said.
The crew members were in stable condition, base officials said.
Nobody at the military base was hurt, said Kim Sykes, marketing director with Silver Wings of Idaho, which helped to plan the air show.
“Everyone is safe and I think that’s the most important thing,” Sykes said.
The base said in a social media post that it was locked down immediately following the incident. The remainder of the air show was canceled.
Videos posted online by spectators showed four parachutes opening in the sky as the aircraft plummet to the ground near the base about 50 miles south of Boise.
The EA-18G Growler is a variant of the F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet with sophisticated electronic warfare systems.
Shane Ogden said he was filming the two jets as they came close together. A video he captured shows the two aircraft appear to make contact and then spin in tandem as the crew members eject and their parachutes open. The planes then fall together, exploding into a fireball upon impact as the crew members drop to the ground nearby.
“I was just filming thinking they were going to split apart and that happened and I filmed the rest,” Ogden said in a text message. He said he left soon after the crash because he did not want to get in the way of emergency responders.
Organizers said the popular air show that includes flying demonstrations and parachute jumps is a celebration of aviation history and a look at modern military capabilities. The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds demonstration squadron headlined the show both days.
The National Weather Service reported good visibility and winds gusting up to 29 mph (47 kph) around the time of the crash.
Aviation safety expert John Cox, who is CEO of Safety Operating Systems, said the pilots who perform at air shows are among the best, but there is little room for error.
“Air show flying is demanding. It has very little tolerance,” Cox said. “The people who do it are very good and it’s a small margin for error. I’m glad everybody was able to get out.”
This year’s Gunfighter Skies event was the first at the base since 2018, when a hang glider died in a crash during an air show performance.
In 2003, a Thunderbirds aircraft crashed while attempting a maneuver. The pilot, who was not hurt, was able to steer the plane away from the crowd and eject less than a second before it hit the ground.
The air show industry has been working to improve safety for years at the roughly 200 events held each year in the U.S. The last fatal crash at an air show came in 2022 when two vintage military planes collided at an event in Dallas and killed six people.
John Cudahy, president and CEO of the International Council of Air Shows, said that there used to be an average of about two deaths a year at a U.S. air show. But over the past decade, the average has been closer to one death per year, he said. There were no air show deaths in 2025 or 2024, and a spectator hasn’t been killed at an air show since 1952.
“Safety wise we’ve enjoyed really an unprecedented term of few accidents,” Cudahy said.
Investigators may be able to quickly get an idea of what happened in Sunday’s crash because the crews of both planes survived and will be able to tell investigators what they saw and experienced before the collision.
The Iran war has led to the cancellation of about 10 air shows this year at bases where military units are flying missions related to the conflict. But most air shows have been able to continue as planned.
Video
Two fighter jets collide and crash during an air show in Idaho
https://rumble.com/v79zqja-two-fighter-jets-collide-and-crash-during-an-air-show-in-idaho.html
Manufactured 2004–present
Does this count as a good landing?
Thank God
I'm just shaking my head on that one.
“Photobombed” by a B-52 on the right.
Yeah. That’s a lot of tech to risk for something si foolish.
What do we know about the aircrews? ;^)
“The collision involved two U.S. Navy EA18-G Growlers”
PIlots better hope they do not have to pay for those planes.
$$$ jammer variant.
The EA-18G Growler is a variant of the F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet with sophisticated electronic warfare systems.
= = =
Just what was this pair doing flying in an airshow?
Kind of expensive, I think.
Got an in-cockpit video of that somewhere.
Hotshot pilot tried a loop starting too low.
Only USA can down USA planes- generally.
Glad the 5 aviators are ok.
God bless our pilots and thank God they are safe, although at least one or two could lose their wings as a result of today.
It wasn't a "mock dogfight". The maneuver is a merge and converge tactic used to confuse enemy radar and optical air defenses. It is a pretty standard maneuver for the Growler SEAD type mission.
The trail plane should have crossed behind the lead and they would break 90 degrees in opposite directions if executed properly.
One of the pilots was off his timing mark by fractions of a second.
Two more valuable aircraft destroyed.
Cmdr. Amelia Umayam
What was the a/c issue there?
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