Two people aboard a MiG-23 fighter were slightly injured when they ejected from the Cold War fighter at an airshow in Michigan Sunday. The swing-wing jet was part of the finale of the Thunder Over Michigan at Willow Run Airport when the two punched out during a moderate turn over Belleville Lake. They ended up in the water and were rescued quickly. The aircraft crashed on the grounds of an apartment building in Belleville. Authorities said the plane wiped out some unoccupied cars in the parking lot but there were no injuries on the ground. The plane was owned by former Navy pilot Dan Filer and was based in Longview, Texas. Filer operates a museum and collects Soviet-era aircraft. He was listed as the pilot at the airshow.
Wayne County Airport Authority released the following statement: “Shortly after 4:00 p.m. Sunday, a MiG-23 demonstration plane performing at the Yankee Air Museum’s Thunder over Michigan air show crashed into the parking lot at the Waverly on the Lake Apartments in Belleville. The pilot and backseater successfully ejected from the aircraft before the crash. While it did not appear they sustained any significant injuries, first responders transported the pair to a nearby hospital as a precaution. The aircraft struck unoccupied vehicles in the apartment complex’s parking lot. No one at the apartment complex nor the air show was injured. The FAA is investigating the crash.”
