Two Navy EA-18G Growlers collided during an air show at Mountain Home Air Force Base in western Idaho on Sunday. All four crew members ejected safely and were being evaluated by medical personnel, while the base said no one was hurt and the crash is under inve
Two Navy jets collided during an air show at Mountain Home Air Force Base in western Idaho on Sunday, sending both aircraft down while all four crew members ejected safely, officials said.
The collision involved two U.S. Navy EA18-G Growlers from the Electronic Attack Squadron 129 in Whidbey Island, Washington. Cmdr. Amelia Umayam, spokesperson for Naval Air Forces, U.S. Pacific Fleet, said the jets were performing an aerial demonstration when the crash happened.
Umayam said in a statement that the four crew members from both jets safely ejected and were being evaluated by medical personnel. The crash was under investigation, she said.
Kim Sykes, marketing director with Silver Wings of Idaho, which helped plan the air show, said nobody at the military base was hurt. “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 following the incident.
Videos posted online by spectators showed four parachutes opening as the aircraft plummeted to the ground near the base about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Boise.. Shane Ogden said he was filming the two jets as they came close together.. In a video he captured. 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.
Ogden said in a text message that he was filming when the planes came close, expecting them to split apart. He said he left soon after the crash because he did not want to get in the way of emergency responders.
Organizers said the air show, known for flying demonstrations and parachute jumps, was 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.
A section of the sky also echoed the timing of the event: the National Weather Service reported good visibility and winds gusting up to 29 mph (47 km/h) around the time of the crash.
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 was not hurt and 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.
The sequence of reported steps—two aircraft colliding during an aerial demonstration. crew members ejecting and being evaluated by medical personnel. the base locking down. and the crash placed under investigation—shapes how the incident is being handled even as public videos show both planes impacting near the base in the moments after ejections.
Canada news MISRYOUM Idaho air show Navy jets collide EA-18G Growler Mountain Home Air Force Base crew ejected aviation safety