Blue Angels Annapolis: Four Eject After Idaho Growler Collision
Two U.S. Navy EA-18G Growlers collided in midair during the Gunfighter Skies air show at Mountain Home Air Force Base on Sunday, and all four crew members ejected safely. The blue angels annapolis keyword applies here because this is the kind of airshow crash readers track for crew safety, aircraft recovery, and the next steps in the investigation.
Cmdr. Amelia Umayam, a spokesperson for Naval Air Forces, U.S. Pacific Fleet, said Monday that only one of the four crew members was injured and that the injury was not life-threatening. The damaged aircraft, both from Electronic Attack Squadron 129 in Whidbey Island, Washington, are being recovered while the crash is investigated.
Mountain Home Air Force Base
The collision happened during the Gunfighter Skies air show at Mountain Home Air Force Base, about 57 miles southwest of Boise. Each plane carried two crew members, and all four deployed parachutes after the impact. The planes then careened into a field and exploded into a fireball.
Spectator videos showed the jets trying to line up closely wing tip to wing tip before the collision. Billie Flynn, a former F-35 senior test pilot and demonstration expert, called the safe ejection “truly remarkable” and added, “It is astonishing considering the way the airplanes impacted each other — incomprehensible even.”
EA-18G Growler
Both aircraft were U.S. Navy EA-18G Growlers, a type the Navy says made its first flight in August 2006 and had its “baptism of fire” in Libya in 2011. The service describes it as the first newly designed electronic warfare aircraft produced in more than 35 years.
Flynn said after viewing videos of the collision, “This is clearly a pilot error.” That assessment has not been presented as the official cause of the crash.
Recovery and inquiry
Umayam wrote in an email to The that, “Our priority is to ensure the safety and well-being of our personnel, as well as security of the aircraft during the recovery.” The recovery effort is underway as the investigation proceeds.
For people watching the aftermath, the immediate point is that four crew members got out, one was treated at a hospital, and the Navy now has to recover two damaged Growlers while sorting out how the collision happened.
