Aug. 14 (UPI) — A Soviet-era fighter jet participating in a Michigan air show crashed Sunday evening, after its two occupants were able to eject from the vintage aircraft, officials said.
The incident happened shortly after 4 p.m. during the Thunder Over Michigan Air Show, held by the Yankee Air Museum at the Willow Run Airport located just outside of Detroit.
Dramatic video of the incident posted online shows the jet streaking low against a blue sky when two puffs of black smoke are seen coming from the aircraft followed by the plane’s two occupants ejecting into the air as their parachutes open.
The Wayne County Airport Authority said in a statement that the jet’s two occupants — a pilot and a passenger — appeared to not have been injured in the incident, but were transported to a nearby hospital as a precaution.
The aircraft crashed in a parking lot at the Waverly on the Lake Apartments in Belleville, striking unoccupied vehicles, it said, adding that “no one at the apartment complex nor the air show was injured.”
The Federal Aviation Administration identified the aircraft as a MiG-23. In a statement, the federal agency said it was investigating the crash along with the National Transportation Safety Board.
The FAA’s early preliminary info: 2 people parachuted from a MiG-23 south of Willow Run Airport near Ypsilanti, MI while performing in the Thunder Over Michigan Air Show. They landed in Belleville Lake. The aircraft crashed near an apt. building. The FAA & @NTSB will investigate.— The FAA ✈️ (@FAANews) August 13, 2023
The Thunder Over Michigan Air Show is a two-day event that was schedule to end Sunday.
The event said on its Facebook page following the crash that “we have a situation that requires us to stop the show.”
“Please make your way into your vehicles and calmly make your way out of the air flied.”