2 eject from vintage Soviet jet before crash at Michigan air show
No injuries were reported when the MiG-23, flying at Thunder Over Michigan, plummeted and hit vehicles in a parking lot, authorities said.
Aug. 13, 2023, 10:22 PM EDT
By Dennis Romero
Two people in a vintage fighter jet ejected dramatically just before it crashed and sent up an expansive black cloud of smoke during a Michigan air show Sunday, authorities said.
The two, a pilot and a passenger sitting tandem in the Soviet-era MiG-23, were hospitalized as a precaution but appeared to be free of serious injuries, Randy Wimbley, the spokesperson for the Wayne County Airport Authority, said in a statement.
No one on the ground was reported injured, and the vehicles struck by the jet were unoccupied, Wimbley said.
The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement the two on the plane, who made it to the ground safely with parachutes, landed in Bellevue Lake.
The fighter was flying as part of the Thunder Over Michigan air show hosted by the Yankee Air Museum, which lists itself in Bellevue but which shares a property, the Willow Run Airport, in Ypsilanti Charter Township — both western suburbs of Detroit.
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The two-day air show was near the end of its second day when the crash took place at shortly after 4 p.m. NBC affiliate WDIV of Detroit reported the rest of the day’s festivities were canceled.
Wimbley described the aircraft as a demonstration plane.
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board were investigating.
Dennis Romero is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.
Jay Blackman and Ava Kelley contributed.
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