Whidbey Island Growlers collide at Idaho air show, four crew survive

Two EA-18G Growlers from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island collided during the Gunfighter Skies Air Show at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho, turning a showcase of Navy aviation into an emergency in front of thousands of spectators. The aircraft were part of VAQ-129, the Navy’s Growler Demo Team, and came down around 12:10 p.m. MDT Sunday in a field about two miles northwest of the base.

All four Washington-based crew members ejected safely and survived. Officials said they were in stable condition, with one crew member taken to a local hospital for a non-life-threatening injury and the other three reported uninjured. The crash also sparked a brush fire and forced a lockdown at Mountain Home Air Force Base before the rest of the air show was canceled.

The weekend event had been billed as a free public two-day air show on Saturday and Sunday, May 16-17, and featured the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds. Instead, the collision shifted attention immediately from aerial demonstration to public safety, the kind of risk that follows military aircraft wherever they fly. For Island County families tied to Naval Air Station Whidbey Island in Oak Harbor, the crash put the base’s Growler fleet back under a national spotlight.

The investigation now moves to the question of what happened in Idaho and what it means for the aircraft community that operates from Whidbey. That scrutiny comes after the October 15, 2024 EA-18G crash near Mount Rainier that killed Whidbey-based aviators Lt. Cmdr. Lyndsay P. Evans and Lt. Serena N. Wileman, a loss still felt across the island’s military community.

For Oak Harbor and the wider Whidbey region, the Idaho collision is more than a distant air show mishap. It is another reminder that the aircraft flying from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island carry both the Navy’s mission and real risk, and that every accident reverberates back home through service families, base operations and the base’s safety record.