BOISE, Idaho – In a dramatic turn of events at the Mountain Home Air Force Base in western Idaho, two Navy jets collided during an air show on Sunday. Fortunately, all four crew members managed to eject safely, according to officials.
The jets involved were U.S. Navy EA-18G Growlers, part of the Electronic Attack Squadron 129 stationed at Whidbey Island, Washington. These aircraft were in the midst of performing an aerial routine when the collision occurred, stated Cmdr. Amelia Umayam, a spokesperson for Naval Air Forces, U.S. Pacific Fleet.
Cmdr. Umayam confirmed that an investigation into the crash is currently underway. The base officials reported that the crew members are in stable condition and, notably, no other injuries have been reported.
Kim Sykes, the marketing director for Silver Wings of Idaho, which co-organized the air show, commented, “Everyone is safe, and that’s the most important aspect.”
Following the collision, both planes descended to the ground simultaneously.
In response to the incident, the base was promptly placed on lockdown, and the remainder of the air show was canceled.
Videos posted online by spectators showed four parachutes opening in the sky as the aircraft plummeted to the ground near the base about 50 miles (80 kilometers) 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. The video 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 drift 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.
The National Weather Service reported good visibility and winds gusting up to 29 mph (47 kph) around the time of the crash.
Organizers said the 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.
Little room for error
It was remarkable both crews safely ejected, and aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti said that may have been possible because of the way the planes collided. They appeared to remain stuck together in midair before falling to Earth. Crews usually don’t have a chance to eject in a midair collision, Guzzetti said.
“It appears to be a pilot issue to me. It doesn’t look like it was a mechanical malfunction,” he added. “Rendezvousing with another airplane in formation flight is challenging, and it has to be done just right to prevent exactly this kind of thing.”
The pilots who perform at air shows are among the best, but there is little room for error, said John Cox, an aviation expert and CEO of Safety Operating Systems.
“Air show flying is demanding. It has very little tolerance,” he 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 pilot 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 annually in the U.S.
John Cudahy, president and CEO of the International Council of Air Shows, said that there used to be an average of 3.8 deaths a year at U.S. air shows from 1991 to 2006. That number has been steadily improving and since 2017 there have been an average of 1.1 deaths per year, even including a crash in Dallas in 2022 that killed six when two vintage planes collided.
There were no air show deaths in 2025 or 2023, and a spectator hasn’t been killed at an air show in the U.S. 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 Navy will lead the investigation, so there won’t be as much information shared publicly as in civilian crashes.
The Iran war has led to the cancellation of some air shows this year at bases where military units are flying missions related to the conflict.
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Brown reported from Billings, Montana. Associated Press writers Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska, and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles contributed. ___
This version has been updates to reflect that International Council of Air Shows President John Cudahy corrected himself to say there were no air show fatalities in 2023, not 2024.
