Two fighter jets collide during Idaho air show, crew ejects safely

Two fighter jets collided midair and crashed during an air show at the Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho on Sunday.
The aircraft were U.S. Navy E/A-18G Growler jets that were performing an aerial ?demonstration at around 12:10 p.m. as part of the ?two-day Gunfighter Skies Air Show, according to Cmdr. Amelia Umayam, ?a spokesperson for Naval Air Forces, U.S. Pacific Fleet. The jets were assigned to Electronic Attack Squadron 129 from Whidbey Island, Washington. Each unit costs approximately $67 million, according to the U.S. Navy.
The aircraft collided with the ground 2 miles from the base and crashed onto a portion of State Highway 16, which will remain closed for several days as the incident is investigated, according to Reuters. All four crew members were able to eject safely, with three being unharmed and one needing treatment for non-life-threatening injuries. The jets were flying at very low altitude and also relatively slow speeds when the collision happened, former pilot and Top Gun instructor Dave Berke told CBS News.
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“The margin for error in this ejection was incredibly small,” said Berke. “I think when this investigation is over, those four air crew are going to tell you there was a lot of luck involved that they all got to walk away from this.”
At the last Gunfighter Skies ?Air Show in 2018, a hang glider pilot died during a crash. The Navy will lead the investigation, so information will not be shared as publicly as a civilian crash, but the base’s Facebook page states that more details will be released as available.