Two US Navy fighter aircraft collided mid-air during an aerial demonstration at an air show in western Idaho on Sunday, forcing all four crew members to eject before the planes crashed near Mountain Home Air Force Base.
The aircraft involved were two US Navy EA-18G Growlers assigned to Electronic Attack Squadron 129 based in Whidbey Island, Washington, Associated Press reported, citing Cmdr. Amelia Umayam, spokesperson for Naval Air Forces, US Pacific Fleet.
The jets were participating in a demonstration flight during the Gunfighter Skies air show when the collision occurred. “The aircraft were performing an aerial demonstration when the collision occurred,” Umayam said in a statement.
All four crew members from the two aircraft ejected safely and were reported to be in stable condition, base officials said. No injuries were reported among spectators or personnel on the ground, the report said.
Kim Sykes, marketing director for Silver Wings of Idaho, which helped organise the event, said safety personnel responded immediately after the crash.
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Air Show Halted After Crash, Video Captures Incident
Following the incident, Mountain Home Air Force Base announced an immediate lockdown and cancelled the remainder of the air show.
Videos shared online by attendees showed four parachutes descending as the damaged aircraft spiralled toward the ground roughly 50 miles south of Boise. Moments later, the planes appeared to explode upon impact.
Witness Shane Ogden said he had been filming the aircraft moments before the collision.
“I was just filming thinking they were going to split apart and that happened and I filmed the rest,” Ogden told AP.
Ogden added that he left shortly afterward to avoid interfering with emergency crews.
Footage captured by spectators appeared to show the two aircraft touching mid-air before remaining entangled as they descended.
The EA-18G Growler is an electronic warfare variant of the F/A-18 Super Hornet and is equipped with advanced jamming and electronic attack systems.
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Experts Point To Tight Margins In Formation Flying
Aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti said the survival of all four crew members was unusual for a mid-air collision and may have been aided by the way the aircraft remained connected while falling.
“It’s really striking to see,” Guzzetti said. “It looks like they struck each other in a very unique fashion to cause them to remain intact and kind of stick to each other and that very well could have saved them.”
He suggested the incident appeared more consistent with a formation-flying error than a technical malfunction.
“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.”
Another aviation safety expert, John Cox, CEO of Safety Operating Systems, said air show pilots operate under extremely demanding conditions.
“Air show flying is demanding. It has very little tolerance,” the report quoted Cox as saying. “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.”
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Investigation Underway
The US Navy has launched an investigation into the collision. Investigators are expected to interview the surviving crew members to reconstruct the sequence of events leading up to the crash.
Officials indicated that fewer details may be publicly released because the inquiry is being handled by the military rather than civilian aviation authorities.
Some military air shows in the US have also reportedly been cancelled this year due to operational commitments linked to the ongoing Iran conflict.
