Navy Boeing Ea-18g Growler Jets Collide During Idaho Air Show
Two boeing ea-18g growler jets collided in midair during the Gunfighter Skies air show at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho on Sunday, and all four crew members ejected safely. Amelia Umayam, a spokesperson for Naval Air Forces, U.S. Pacific Fleet, said Monday that one of the four crew members was injured but the injury was not life-threatening.
The jets crashed into a field and exploded into a fireball after the collision. Both aircraft were from Electronic Attack Squadron 129 in Whidbey Island, Washington, and each carried two crew members.
Mountain Home Air Force Base
The air show took place about 57 miles, or 92 kilometers, southwest of Boise. Videos taken by spectators showed one jet slightly behind the other before impact, then the aircraft appearing sandwiched together as they twisted and rocked before falling to the ground.
Billie Flynn, a former F-35 senior test pilot and demonstration expert, said, “It is astonishing considering the way the airplanes impacted each other — incomprehensible even” and added, “the video shows they were trying to line up closely — wing tip to wing tip — but failed to safely rejoin in formation, a routine maneuver.”
Electronic Attack Squadron 129
The EA-18G Growler made its first flight in August 2006 and, according to the Navy, had its baptism of fire in Libya in 2011. The aircraft is a Navy electronic warfare plane that was the first newly designed electronic warfare aircraft produced in more than 35 years.
For the people on those two jets, the immediate result was survival after ejection. For the Navy, the next step is dealing with one injured crew member at a hospital while the aircraft loss leaves two squadron jets on the ground after a collision that spectators captured from start to finish.
