The Navy jets collided during the “Gunfighter Skies” air show at Mountain Home Air Force Base, about 57 miles (92 kilometers) southwest of Boise, Idaho, the Associated Press reported. In the account of what happened after the impact, the two EA-18G Growlers appeared to fall into each other’s space as spectators recorded the moment, then the aircraft broke apart as a fireball and smoke rose from the crash site.
Naval Air Forces, U.S. Pacific Fleet spokesperson Cmdr. Amelia Umayam said Monday that all four crew members—two on each jet—were able to eject and deploy their parachutes and float down to safety as the aircraft careened into a field and erupted. She said one crew member was injured and was being treated at a hospital, with the injury not described as life-threatening.
A former F-35 senior test pilot and demonstration expert, Billie Flynn, described the ejections as unusually successful given the way the airplanes impacted each other. “It is astonishing considering the way the airplanes impacted each other — incomprehensible even,” Flynn said.
Flynn said the jets were EA-18G Growlers from Electronic Attack Squadron 129 based at Whidbey Island, Washington, and that each jet carried two crew members. The AP’s report added that the Growler is about just over 60 feet (18.5 meters) long and that its first flight came in August 2006, described by the Navy as the first newly designed electronic warfare aircraft produced in more than 35 years.
Witness videos captured by spectators also suggested the aircraft were slightly out of position before the impact, with one jet trailing the other before the aircraft appeared to become “sandwiched together.” The crews then ejected quickly, with parachutes opening as the jets pitched downward toward the ground, the report said, and the collision produced a fireball and black smoke.
Officials have not yet said what caused the collision. Flynn said the video suggests human error may have played a role, adding that the footage showed the crews attempting to line up wing tip to wing tip to rejoin formation in what he described as a routine maneuver, but failing to safely rejoin.
The AP report said the investigation remains ongoing as the Navy works to recover the damaged aircraft. Umayam told The Associated Press in an email that the Navy’s priority is to ensure the safety and well-being of its personnel and the security of the aircraft during the recovery.
Multiple aviation experts explained that ejection seats are designed to provide a path for escape in emergencies, but they can be constrained by the circumstances of a midair collision. Aviation expert Jeff Guzzetti said the seats use a complex system of motors and parachutes to propel crew members away, beginning with the canopy being pushed away so it poses no danger, followed by the seat being launched upward with solid rocket motors before the parachute deploys.
Guzzetti also said ejections can become impossible when aircraft damage is too extensive, but he said the way the two Navy planes came together may have allowed a chance to eject. “If they had hit each other at a faster speed, they would have done structural damage and the airplane would have come apart,” he said, according to the AP report.
The report also described the explosive forces involved in ejection. Michael O’Donnell, a former Federal Aviation Administration official who worked on ejection seats in the Air Force, said the force can be as much as 20 times the force of gravity, adding that this magnitude can temporarily affect a person’s body after ejection. “A really, really bad roller coaster ride is not even close to that,” O’Donnell said.
Beyond the immediate emergency escape, the report said the Growlers involved are irreplaceable assets. Flynn described them as “invaluable national assets,” saying there is no newer version of the platform and that Boeing stopped building new Growlers several years ago, while the Navy’s Electronic Attack Squadron 129 website describes the aircraft as its most advanced airborne electronic attack tool.
The crash also highlighted the risks inherent in air shows, where there is “very little tolerance” for mistakes, aviation safety expert John Cox, CEO of Safety Operating Systems, said. The AP reported that the air show industry has been working on safety for years, and that the last fatal crashes at an air show came in 2024 when two people were killed in separate accidents at different events.