Thanks to BBC News for this:
Two people aboard a Soviet-era warplane ejected to safety just before it crashed and “burst into a raging fireball” during a Michigan air show, officials said.
The MiG-23, which was built in the former Soviet Union in 1981, crashed Sunday during the Thunder Over Michigan Air Show, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) west of Detroit, and also during the annual Belleville Lake Boat Party.
Parachutes carried the two occupants safely to the ground, where they were then sent to the hospital out of precaution.
There have been no reported injuries.
The jet crashed into unoccupied vehicles in a parking lot at the Waverly on the Lake Apartments (49000 Denton rd, Bellevile, MI), narrowly missing one apartment building, the airport authority said.
The plane then “burst into a raging fireball“, as local media described it, shortly before emergency crews arrived to extinguish the flames. Thick clouds of black smoke bellowing into the sky could be seen from the ground.
Video footage of the incident shows two short bursts of flames coming from the aircraft as the pilot and passenger are each ejected.
The cause of the crash remains unclear. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the incident.
The old Russian war craft was piloted by retired U.S. Navy Lt. Commander Dan Filer, who is a retired Navy pilot from Alto, Texas, according to the air show’s website.
He was piloting a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 swing wing fighter aircraft.
“It’s the only privately owned flying MiG-23 in the world,” Mr Filer, who collects Soviet-made fighter jets, told a local news outlet in Louisiana last year.
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 was one of the most utilised Soviet war planes during the Cold War, known for its advanced radar and fire control system. It could fire missiles at targets beyond visual range, according to the National Museum of the United States Air Force.
