Two Navy Jets Crash During Air Show at Mountain Home — Air Show
Two U.S. Navy EA18-G Growlers collided and crashed during an air show at Mountain Home Air Force Base on Sunday, sending four crew members out on parachutes as spectators watched. Amelia Umayam, a spokesperson for Naval Air Forces, U.S. Pacific Fleet, said the collision involved two Navy jets from Electronic Attack Squadron 129 and that all four crew members safely ejected.
The crew members from both aircraft were being evaluated by medical personnel, and nobody at the military base was hurt. The base said in a social media post that it was locked down after the incident, while Idaho Transportation said SH-167 was closed from Simco Rd to SH-67 near the base and that the closure was expected to last for multiple days.
Mountain Home Air Force Base
Videos posted online by spectators showed four parachutes opening as the aircraft fell near the base, about 50 miles south of Boise. One video captured by Shane Ogden showed the two aircraft appear to make contact and then spin in tandem as the crew members ejected and their parachutes opened.
Ogden said in a text message, “I was just filming thinking they were going to split apart and that happened and I filmed the rest.” The planes then fell together and exploded into a fireball on impact as the crew members dropped to the ground nearby.
Gunfighter Skies
The crash happened during an aerial demonstration at Gunfighter Skies, which this year returned to the base for the first time since 2018. The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds demonstration squadron headlined the show both days, and organizers had described the event as a celebration of aviation history and a look at modern military capabilities.
Kim Sykes, the marketing director with Silver Wings of Idaho, said after the crash, “Everyone is safe and I think that's the most important thing.”
Air Show Safety
The incident comes after no air show deaths in 2025 or 2024. The last fatal crash at an air show came in 2022, when two vintage military planes collided at an event in Dallas and killed six people. A spectator has not been killed at an air show since 1952.
John Cudahy, president and CEO of the International Council of Air Shows, said, “Safety wise we've enjoyed really an unprecedented term of few accidents.”
At Mountain Home, investigators and base officials were left sorting out the crash while the road closure cut access near the site. The immediate next step is the medical evaluation of the four crew members and the crash investigation tied to the closed stretch of SH-167.
