DETROIT − A retired Russian fighter jet flying in a Michigan air show crashed Sunday afternoon, as thousands of spectators, including children, watched in horror.
Russian fighter jet crashes at Michigan air show; video shows pilot, backseater eject
The two people aboard ejected before the jet went down just after 4 p.m., but when the plane hit the ground, it burst into a raging fireball, narrowly missing an apartment building in Van Buren Township and hitting vehicles but not injuring anyone. Emergency crews rushed to extinguish the flames.
The jet was flying in Yankee Air Museum’s Thunder over Michigan air show at the Willow Run Airport near Ypsilanti, a city between Ann Arbor and Detroit.
Russian fighter jet crashes at Michigan air show; video shows pilot, backseater eject
The plane, a former Soviet − now Russian − MiG-23 aircraft, was doing aerial maneuvers. It was not immediately clear what malfunction led the two aboard to eject and the jet to crash. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating.
Watch the video taken by spectators showing an explosion before the two people in the jet ejected.
“The pilot and backseater successfully ejected from the aircraft before the crash,” Randy Wimbley, a spokesman for the Wayne County Airport Authority said. “While it did not appear they sustained any significant injuries, first responders transported the pair to a nearby hospital as a precaution.”
The pilot, listed as Dan Filer in the program, and backseater can be seen ejecting, as their parachutes opened and eased them back to the ground. Some media accounts reported the two were in stable condition after being rescued.
Russian fighter jet crashes at Michigan air show; video shows pilot, backseater eject
The plane, Wimbley said, crashed into the parking lot at the Waverly on the Lake Apartments, striking unoccupied vehicles, but “no one at the apartment complex nor the air show was injured.”
pectators look on after a MiG-23 aircraft crashed into the ground during the Thunder over Michigan air show at the Willow Run Airport in Ypsilanti on Sunday, August 13, 2023. Two people reportedly ejected from the aircraft prior to the crash.
