Two flashes in the air before a huge explosion. This Sunday, two pilots ejected in extremis from a Mig-23 fighter jet shortly before it crashed during an air show called "Thunder Over Michigan" - which has never lived up to its name - as shown in a video that has gone viral across the Atlantic.
Local authorities told local television FOX 2 Detroit that the Soviet-designed MiG-23 crashed near a nearby apartment complex.
"Shortly after 16 p.m. on Sunday, a MiG-23 demonstration aircraft participating in the Yankee Air Museum's Thunder Over Michigan air show crashed into the parking lot of the Waverly on the Lake apartments in Belleville. The pilot and rear passenger managed to eject from the plane before the accident, "said the Wayne County Airport where the event took place.
"Although they do not appear to have sustained any significant injuries, first responders transported them to a nearby hospital as a precaution. The plane collided with unoccupied vehicles in the parking lot of the apartment complex. No one was injured in the apartment complex or during the air show. The FAA is investigating the accident," organizers said.
Recovered from... a lake
Authorities told FOX 2 that the pilots were both recovered in good health... in a lake, facing the real estate complex.
A fighter jet crashed into a parking lot during an airshow in Michigan, with crew members ejecting before the aircraft went down. No serious injuries have been reported. https://t.co/Z9YmLN3ncX pic.twitter.com/zLmdazMBf9
— ABC News (@ABC) August 13, 2023
The very impressive video shows the crew ejecting from the plane as it begins to dangerously lose altitude, approaching the ground very quickly. The Thunder Over Michigan organization announced the end of the air show on Facebook shortly after the crash.
This event, which lasts all weekend, was in its 25th edition. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have a situation that forces us to stop the show," reads the event's Facebook page. "Please go to your vehicles and leave the airfield calmly," the organization said. The incident is under investigation by the U.S. Accident and Investigation Bureau.