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US Navy EA-18G Growlers collide midair at Idaho air show; all four crew eject safely

Two US Navy Boeing EA-18G Growlers collided during an air show in Idaho, becoming entangled and plummeting to the ground. Officials said all four crew members ejected safely before the jets crashed, with video showing the aircraft spinning as they fell.

Discovered 2026-05-17T12:14:42.172347-07:00 | 2026-05-17T12:14:42.172347-07:00

Briefing

What Hype is tracking

  • Highlights the immediate safety outcome of a midair collision involving an operational electronic-attack platform—despite the aircraft loss, all four crew ejected safely (vs. other recent eject-and-survive events like USAF F-35A crashes during Nellis training; pilot ejects safely).
  • The incident will likely feed into how air-show and training event safety processes manage midair risk and crowd/ops constraints, in the context of prior findings on midair collision system contributors such as NTSB issues final report on Jan. 29, 2025 Potomac midair collision.
  • With EA-18G Growler electronic-warfare capability at stake, the loss will matter for near-term EW availability planning and any assessment tied to sustainment/production timelines, given officials’ emphasis on the event’s high-value platform impact.

Reported By

Aviation A2Z Simple Flying CNN USNI News Seattle Times waka.com
Sources Tracked
88
First Seen
2026-05-17T12:14:42.172347-07:00
Latest Update
2026-05-24T06:43:02.314289-07:00
Coverage
Defense

Sources

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