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Two Navy Jets Collided and Locked Together in Midair at an Idaho Air Show
Two US Navy EA-18G Growler jets collided mid-demonstration at the Gunfighter Skies Air Show in Idaho, locking together in the air before crashing in a fireball. All four crew members ejected safely and are in stable condition.
Marine Wing Liason Kadena Supports U.S. Navy E/A 18G Growler. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Emily Weiss
Shane Ogden was filming because he thought it would look cool.
He kept filming because he could not believe what he was seeing.
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Two Navy jets came together in the sky above Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho on Sunday. They did not split apart. Instead, they locked together, spinning in tandem as four crew members ejected and their parachutes opened. The planes fell together and exploded into a fireball on impact.
All four crew members walked away. Barely.
The collision happened at approximately 12:10 p.m. during the Gunfighter Skies Air Show, the first held at the base in eight years. The two aircraft were Navy EA-18G Growlers from Electronic Attack Squadron 129 based in Whidbey Island, Washington. Each plane carries a pilot and an electronic warfare officer.
"All four of the air crew successfully ejected," said Cmdr. Amelia Umayam, spokesperson for Naval Air Forces US Pacific Fleet. All four are in stable condition.
Here is the part that experts are still trying to process.
Aviation analyst Anthony Guzzetti said crews usually do not have a chance to eject in a midair collision. "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 said.
The planes locking together instead of separating is likely what gave all four crew members enough time to get out.
The EA-18G Growlers were flying at very low altitude and relatively slow speeds when the collision happened, according to former pilot and Top Gun instructor Dave Berke. Each aircraft costs approximately $67 million. Two of them are now a fireball in the Idaho desert.
Witnesses on the ground describe what it looked like from the airshow field.
"I heard someone next to me say 'We are down.' I turned around and saw four parachutes coming down, then black smoke appeared," one witness told NBC News. "The atmosphere is very calm, controlled and well managed right now," they added, noting many present are military families.
The base went into immediate lockdown. The rest of the air show was canceled. Emergency responders were on scene within minutes.
If you have followed this far, here is the detail that puts this in a broader context.
The Gunfighter Skies event has a troubled history. In 2018 the last time the base held an air show, a hang glider pilot died during a crash. In 2003, a Thunderbirds pilot had to eject less than a second before his F-16 hit the ground after steering it away from the crowd.
The air show industry has improved significantly over the decades. There were no air show deaths in 2024 or 2025. The last fatal crash was in 2022 when two vintage planes collided in Dallas, killing six people. A spectator has not been killed at a US air show since 1952.
Sunday came close to breaking that record in the worst way possible.
Aviation safety expert John Cox, CEO of Safety Operating Systems, said the pilots who perform at air shows are among the best in the world. "Air show flying is demanding. It has very little tolerance. I'm glad everybody was able to get out," he said.
The Navy will lead the investigation. Because the crews survived, investigators will be able to hear directly from all four about what they saw and experienced in the moments before impact.
Col. David Gunter, wing commander of the 366th Fighter Wing, said they are incredibly thankful that everyone involved is safe.
Two $67 million aircraft are gone. Four Navy aviators are alive.
On any other day that math would be a tragedy. On Sunday in Idaho, it was as close to a miracle as an airshow has ever seen.
Editor's Note: The midair collision at Mountain Home Air Force Base is a stark reminder of the risks military aviators face even outside of combat. The survival of all four crew members is being described by aviation experts as extraordinary. The Navy investigation will determine what went wrong and what can be done to prevent it from happening again.
