The Ejection System That Saved 4 Lives Saturday

Added: 2026-05-20

[00:00:00]Two United States Navy from Electronic Attack [music] Squadron 129 collided midair over Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho on Saturday. All four crew members ejected. [music] The aircraft locked together and cartwheeled into the ground in front of thousands of spectators.

[00:00:19]This was the Gunfighter Skies Air Show, a public demonstration on an active military installation.

[00:00:25]>> [music] >> NPR confirmed all four crew members were recovered safely. The aircraft were total losses.

[00:00:32]>> [music] >> That outcome is not normal. The Navy's ejection seat, the Navy standard since 1992, fires crew clear in under a tenth of [music] a second at virtually any airspeed. Two jets, one collision, four simultaneous ejections from two separate cockpits.

[00:00:49]>> [music] >> It worked, and the number the coverage keeps skipping is this. Air Show formation flying closes the gap between jets to feet, [music] not miles.

[00:00:59]Standard EA-18G combat separation runs in nautical miles. Air Show profiles compress [music] that distance to create visual spectacle for the crowd. That compression is the detail the investigation will center on. The Navy has grounded Electronic Attack Squadron 129 pending a full investigation, a process that typically runs 12 to 18 months. Formation demonstrations happen at every major air installation. Whether the spectacle justifies the risk, that debate starts Monday. Saturday already showed us what held.