Two Navy aircraft crashed in a dramatic midair collision during an Idaho air show Sunday, but remarkably all four crew members aboard both planes managed to eject safely before the jets plummeted to the ground in a fiery explosion.
The incident occurred during the “Gunfighter Skies” air show at Mountain Home Air Force Base, located approximately 57 miles southwest of Boise.
According to Cmdr. Amelia Umayam, spokesperson for Naval Air Forces, U.S. Pacific Fleet, just one of the four crew members sustained injuries and received hospital treatment Monday. The injuries were described as non-life-threatening.
Aviation expert Billie Flynn, a former F-35 senior test pilot and demonstration specialist, described the successful ejections as “truly remarkable.”
“It is astonishing considering the way the airplanes impacted each other — incomprehensible even,” Flynn stated.
The aircraft involved were two U.S. Navy EA18-G Growlers from Electronic Attack Squadron 129 based at Whidbey Island, Washington. Each plane carried two crew members.
The EA-18G Growler spans 60.2 feet in length and completed its inaugural flight in August 2006, marking the first new electronic warfare aircraft design in over 35 years, Navy records show. The aircraft saw its first combat deployment in Libya during 2011 and has since operated globally.
Spectator footage captured the moments before impact, showing one aircraft positioned slightly behind the other. Upon collision, the jets became locked together, with one plane’s underside pressed against the top of the other aircraft.
The combined wreckage then spun and rocked together, momentarily pointing skyward before rotating downward toward the earth. The ground impact created a massive fireball with black smoke billowing upward.
The crew members ejected in rapid sequence, their parachutes deploying as the aircraft began their fatal descent.
Flynn analyzed the collision footage and suggested pilot error as the likely cause.
The video evidence indicates the pilots were attempting to align their aircraft closely in a wing-tip to wing-tip formation but failed to complete the standard rejoining maneuver safely, Flynn explained.
“This is clearly a pilot error,” Flynn concluded.
Military officials have not disclosed any details about potential contributing factors to the crash. Umayam confirmed an investigation is ongoing while recovery operations for the destroyed aircraft continue.
“Our priority is to ensure the safety and well-being of our personnel, as well as security of the aircraft during the recovery,” Umayam stated in correspondence with The Associated Press.
John Cox, an aviation safety specialist and CEO of Safety Operating Systems, noted that air show pilots represent the elite tier of aviators, but operate within extremely narrow safety margins.
“Air show flying is demanding. It has very little tolerance,” Cox explained. “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.”
The air show sector has pursued enhanced safety measures across approximately 200 annual events nationwide. The most recent fatal air show incidents occurred in 2024, claiming two lives in separate crashes at different venues.
Sunday’s Gunfighter Skies event marked the first air show at the base since 2018, when a hang glider pilot perished during a performance crash.
The base previously experienced a 2003 Thunderbirds aircraft crash during a maneuver attempt. That pilot avoided injury by directing the plane away from spectators and ejecting moments before ground impact.
John Cudahy, president and CEO of the International Council of Air Shows, reported significant safety improvements over recent decades. Annual U.S. air show fatalities averaged 3.8 deaths from 1991 to 2006, but have declined to an average of 1.1 deaths yearly since 2017, even accounting for a 2022 Dallas collision between vintage aircraft that killed six people. No air show deaths occurred in 2025 or 2023, and no spectator fatalities have happened at U.S. air shows since 1952.
