Two Navy Growlers collide mid-air at Mountain Home air show; all four crew eject safely

Two U.S. Navy EA-18G Growler electronic-attack aircraft collided in mid-air on Sunday during the Gunfighter Skies air show at Mountain Home Air Force Base in southwestern Idaho, according to Navy and local reporting. The impact came on the event’s second day while spectators were still on the field. Four aircrew ejected under parachute while wreckage burned on or near the installation.

Organizers and medical support teams said the aviators survived the ejections and were in stable or non-life-threatening condition as evaluations continued. Officials canceled the remainder of the day’s flying, cleared spectators in an orderly way, and closed a stretch of SH-167 so emergency crews had room to work.

What officials described

Naval Air Forces, U.S. Pacific Fleet, identified the jets as Growlers from Electronic Attack Squadron 129 at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Washington. A Navy spokesperson said the aircraft were in a scheduled aerial demonstration when contact occurred.

The 366th Fighter Wing, which hosts the event on the Air Force side, publicly thanked emergency responders from the base and surrounding city and county agencies for reaching the aircrew quickly and securing the scene while crowds were still on the field.

Local medevac teams said they assisted ground responders. Early readouts described injuries from the incident as not life-threatening.

What witnesses reported

Multiple spectators filming the routine captured the jets closing, touching, and then tumbling together. Ejection seats fired, and four parachutes opened against smoke over the base.

In accounts carried by local outlets, attendee Shane Ogden—who shared video of the sequence—said he had been recording because he expected the aircraft to peel apart.

In a text message quoted in local reporting, Ogden wrote: “I was just filming thinking they were going to split apart and that happened and I filmed the rest.”

He said he left the area soon afterward so emergency crews would have clear access.

Separately, broadcasters credited spectator Hannah Jungo with still images described as showing the moment of contact, with parachutes already visible in the frame.

Those witness accounts match the broad public description of the crash sequence. They are not a substitute for investigators’ radar, telemetry, or airboss logs.

Scene and aftermath

Organizers with the volunteer board that helps produce Gunfighter Skies posted that the day had turned emotional. They said pilot and crowd safety remained the priority.

Police asked the public not to drive toward the base to gawk. Transportation officials warned of multi-day highway closures tied to the investigation.

Officials described the on-base fire as contained after the initial response.

Prior incidents at Gunfighter Skies

Local television reporting published after the May 2026 crash said it was the third major incident at Gunfighter Skies in about 23 years, bracketing two earlier episodes in 2003 and 2018 that had already drawn wide attention at the same venue.

In September 2003, an Air Force Thunderbirds jet crashed during the Gunfighter Skies weekend. Later summaries of the period, published alongside coverage of the 2026 collision, quoted military officials saying the pilot ejected safely and that no other injuries were reported to the service.

In 2018, a glider pilot died during a routine performance at the same event. Base leadership at the time publicly named the performer as Dan Buchanan and described the act as one he had flown many times before; witnesses told reporters a gust of wind preceded the fatal impact, according to contemporaneous local coverage revisited after the 2026 crash.

Past outcomes do not predict the findings of the new investigation; they only show that large air shows at fixed venues accumulate a public memory of risk as well as spectacle.

What is still open

Safety investigators had not, in the first public releases, assigned a cause or a detailed sequence for the maneuver that led to the impact.

It was unclear how long flight restrictions or road closures would remain in place. This desk will update if military investigators publish a formal findings summary or if medical statuses change.