Two EA-18 fighter jets collide at Mountain Home airshow, pilots ejected safely

Post by drob518 » Mon, May 18, 2026, 12:57 PM UTC

philipwhiuk wrote: post #197

jcgrillo wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Admittedly I have nowhere near the flight hours, training, or expertise of these pilots, but having flown airplanes myself I can totally imagine in an off-nominal situation (which I have been in before) conscious focus is fully on flying the airplane even if your rote lizard brain is procedurally going through the motions of pulling the ejection handles or otherwise responding to the emergency. My instructor's words-…

Sufficient training overrides your lizard brain. But yes, pilots still trying to fix stuff when they should have ejected is a common problem.

Post by alistairSH » Mon, May 18, 2026, 1:02 PM UTC

rootusrootus wrote: post #43

Groxx wrote: post #9

Is there much of a way to recover from that kind of glomping? Kinda seems like the aerodynamics might hold them together (as the noses are somewhat pointed together), or with enough speed rip them apart chaotically since they're a bit skewed (which could be worse than ejecting early). It seems pretty obvious that ejecting is the right choice either way, but it makes me wonder if there's any alternative in this kind o…

Depending on how much damage was incurred during contact, since they were already flying predominantly the same direction & speed, at a higher altitude they might have uncoupled and regained controlled flight. Examples of more grievously damaged airplanes have landed in the past. I don't think they had any real hope if they stayed joined, tho.

Post by nancyminusone » Mon, May 18, 2026, 1:08 PM UTC

peteforde wrote: post #170

It's crazy to me that Americans feel like they can't afford socialized healthcare, but performing tricks in $70M jets is something that must proceed at all costs.

Post by tim333 » Mon, May 18, 2026, 1:15 PM UTC

llm_nerd wrote: post #234

somenameforme wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something that seems interesting to me is that they all ejected at nearly the identical time. I'm curious if those systems are automated in case of scenarios like an unconscious pilot. If so, there may be automated clearance/angle systems, but that's speculation on top of speculation.

The initiation of the ejection wasn't automated, but it was very clear to both pilots that it was unrecoverable. It was less than 4 seconds after ejection that the jets struck the ground, so there wasn't a lot of time. By the timing seen in the video, the front seater -- the pilot -- ejected in both jets at close to the same time. That automatically ejects the electronics officer first then the pilot momentarily afte…

Post by ahartmetz » Mon, May 18, 2026, 1:52 PM UTC

dylan604 wrote: post #121

Levitating wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think these ejection seats work in more or less any orientation. I am more surprised that they didn't immediately blow up or lose control after colliding. Or even that the crew took that long to eject.

The ejection seat is going to do its thing regardless of orientation, but if that orientation is pointed at the ground you better hope you have enough altitude. There was one plane where the ejection seats ejected down and away from the plane that was known for low altitude missions. These seats were affectionately known as lawn darts.