A high-flying demo at the Gunfighter Skies Air Show turned into a heart-stopping moment Sunday when two U.S. Navy EA-18G Growler jets from VAQ-129 out of Whidbey Island clipped each other during a performance over Mountain Home Air Force Base. All four crew members ejected and were recovered in stable condition, but both jets went down in a fireball roughly two miles northwest of the base, throwing a column of black smoke across the high desert and bringing the show to an abrupt end as officials locked down the installation and shut the event down for the day.
Cmdr. Amelia Umayam, a spokesperson for Naval Air Forces, U.S. Pacific Fleet, said the two EA-18Gs were flying an aerial demonstration when they collided at about 12:10 p.m. MDT, and that the cause is under investigation, according to AP. Base officials said the four aviators, two in each aircraft, all punched out successfully and were being evaluated by medical teams. Local emergency responders secured the crash scene and helped recover the parachuting aircrew, and authorities reported no injuries among spectators.
Eyewitness Footage Captures The Close Call
Bystander video racing around social media shows the two Growlers apparently making contact, then dropping together toward the ground while four parachutes blossom overhead, according to witnesses at the scene. KIRO 7 shared a clip of the crash sequence and reported it had asked officials at the Whidbey Island base for comment, while CBS News aired footage that shows parachutes deploying near the impact area. Air show organizers and the base public affairs team urged people to stay away from the crash site while first responders worked.
Who The Growler Demo Team Is
The downed jets were part of the Navy’s EA-18G Growler Demo Team, which pulls its aircraft and crews from Electronic Attack Squadron VAQ-129 at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, according to the air show’s official roster. The EA-18G is a two-seat offshoot of the Super Hornet tailored for electronic warfare, a role and unit profile also outlined by USNI News. Demo teams routinely practice tight, high-energy maneuvers that leave little margin for error, which is why exhaustive investigations follow any mid-air mishap like this one.
Lockdown, Inquiry And What Comes Next
Mountain Home officials said they locked down the base and canceled the rest of the Gunfighter Skies schedule immediately after the crash so crews could secure the area and investigators could get to work, ABC News reported. The Navy said it will release additional details as its formal inquiry moves forward and will work with local emergency agencies on recovery and safety efforts. For now, organizers stressed that the key outcome was that both crews and the crowd got out of the incident without reported injuries.
The Gunfighter Skies show was the first at Mountain Home since 2018, when a hang-glider pilot died in a different accident, and organizers said they intend to fully support the Navy’s investigation, according to AP. Authorities are gathering videos, eyewitness accounts and maintenance records as they work to reconstruct exactly how the mid-air collision unfolded.
