OT - MiG-23 Ejection at the Thunder Over Michigan Airshow 13 August
A very close call yesterday as a MiG-23 that was performing at the Thunder Over Michigan airshow had to eject. Both the pilot and passenger ejected safely. The jet crashed next to an apartment complex in Belleville but nobody on the ground was hurt. For those that don't know, the MiG-23 'Flogger' is a cold war era Soviet fighter jet known for it's high speed and turn radius about the size of Florida.
August 14th, 2023 at 11:02 AM ^
The narrator's critique of the film quality! LOL
"Of course, everyone's filming in vertical view these days."
August 14th, 2023 at 4:24 PM ^
Dad: Wow, parachute!
Son: Airplanes's crashing!
Dad: It's not crashing. They did that on purpose. Hahahaha
August 14th, 2023 at 10:26 PM ^
I can't really place why, but I struggle to even watch the videos knowing how absurdly lucky it is that people on the ground weren't killed. I cannot believe a thing that big, going that fast, into that populated of an area missed everything besides a few cars.
August 14th, 2023 at 8:57 AM ^
Does this reflect the quality of the military equipment for a given country’s defense forces.
August 14th, 2023 at 9:07 AM ^
The Soviet era jets weren't known for their reliability but the MiG-23 has been out of service for so long it's difficult to correlate this to the quality of current day Russian aircraft. These aircraft are about as old as our F-4s. Who knows what kind of maintenance program and access to parts the aircraft owner has. If you watch the Blanolirio video, he explains that these old warbirds that fly at airshows have their own special experimental aircraft category.
August 14th, 2023 at 9:11 AM ^
Possibly, but it was an old plane. It is still unclear as to what exactly happened. We’ll have to wait until the ntsb does its investigation.
August 15th, 2023 at 12:15 AM ^
I have a theory...
August 14th, 2023 at 9:45 AM ^
I don’t think so. The MiG-23 was pretty poorly designed, and fell out of active service a long time ago.
Among the limitations of this fighter:
- fuel tanks tend to suffer structural failure
- massive acceleration with an under-engineered airframe = pervasive stress fracturing
- Russian engine companies designed their airplane engines to only last 150 hours before FULL replacement was required
- basic maneuvers could bend the engine shaft, which turns the turbines into shrapnel
- it was a massively unstable aircraft. Any high angle of attack and the pilot was likely to lose control.
- takeoffs and landings on this were particularly dangerous, because of the tendency of the engines to suck in debris…and then BECOME debris
Soviet “third gen” fighters were obsolete they day they came off the assembly line.
August 14th, 2023 at 9:47 AM ^
Sounds like a great aircraft to be performing tricks over heavily populated areas.
August 14th, 2023 at 10:44 AM ^
Rimshot
August 14th, 2023 at 9:31 AM ^
Pravda headline:
TOTALLY PLANNED MiG-23 DECOMMISSIONING CLEARS WAY FOR GLORIOUS NEW TRACTOR FACTORY IN BELLEVILLE
August 14th, 2023 at 12:17 PM ^
^This guy Soviets^
August 14th, 2023 at 10:05 AM ^
Brings back bad memories of Goose. I'm glad they both made it out ok. It didn't miss that apt. by much, damn.
Ice is surely the frontrunner now.
August 15th, 2023 at 12:18 AM ^
Goose died because he didn’t follow NATOPS procedure for ejecting while in a flat spin. Because the canopy would remain in the stagnant air aircrew were to jettison the canopy and wait for it to drift clear before actuating the seat.
August 14th, 2023 at 10:06 AM ^
Good to see and very fortunate that no one was seriously hurt.
I appreciate the dedication of those who keep these old planes flying so we can see the evolution of flight.
August 14th, 2023 at 11:58 AM ^
‘Good to see and very fortunate that no one was seriously hurt.’
Serious question, to which I honestly don’t know the answer but doesn’t the pilot have some sort of legal, if not moral obligation to safely ditch the plane? (I’m reminded of a scene central to the story in Pat Conroy’s The Great Santini)
August 14th, 2023 at 12:09 PM ^
I was wondering this too. No offense to the pilots, but my first concern when I read the headline wasn't "did the pilots make it out ok", but rather "was anyone on the ground hurt by the crash."
I don't know the specifics, here or in general. Do pilots typically try to steer to an open area before ejecting? And maybe they did here, although "narrowly missed apartment building" doesn't sound like it. But it seems like the standard needs to be that the pilots should be required to do everything they can to aim for an open area before ejecting, and if that means going down with the ship, so be it. The (hypothetical) concept of them being able to eject while an apartment complex gets taken out seems totally backwards...
August 14th, 2023 at 1:50 PM ^
Ive read a few people ask this same question. My completely uneducated take is that if they could handle or control the plane at all they wouldnt be ejecting in the first place. If they could place the plane in a certain direction im guessing a runway would be their first target.
August 14th, 2023 at 12:31 PM ^
From my prior experience as a Naval Aviator, you are trained to do everything you can to avoid ejecting over populated areas but there is no legal obligation. If pilot error / negligence is the cause of the mishap then there could be legal repercussions.
August 14th, 2023 at 12:00 PM ^
In hindsight (and foresight) probably not a good idea to be flying 50 year old Soviet aircraft so close to residential areas
August 14th, 2023 at 10:37 AM ^
I was considering attending the Sunday show but was put off by the cost of admission. Earlier in the week it was $129 per car, and since I didn't have anybody to go with I'd have to foot the bill myself.
On Friday I was wavering, and thought maybe I'd fork over the $$ anyhow, but then saw that the marketing geniuses at Yankee were employing "dynamic pricing"—as the number of available tickets decreased, their price escalated to the point that admission was now $199 per car.
I love air shows, but I can think of lots of other things to spend $200 on that will give me many more hours of value than an afternoon watching planes take off, fly overhead, and land.
August 14th, 2023 at 11:15 AM ^
I went with my son on Saturday. For $100/ person it was a better deal than a UM football game and we were allowed to bring our own food in. Had a very good time.
The Mig23 was kind of boring, but luckily they finished with an F22 demo. I guess the MIG pilot decided to one-up the F22 pilot on Sunday.
August 14th, 2023 at 12:26 PM ^
I was in the same boat Don. Just FYI, on June 8th and 9th 2024, at Selfridge Air National Guard Base near Mount Clemens, MI... they're going to have the Selfridge Air Show. The Thunderbirds will be the headliner. Parking and the show will be free.
August 14th, 2023 at 10:43 AM ^
I went to Ypsi from Belleville yesterday afternoon and the number of looky-loos on the service drive north of I-94 was staggering. I get that it's really interesting, but it seems more than a little obnoxious to stop your car for the chance to see some flaming wreckage from across the interstate.
August 14th, 2023 at 11:30 AM ^
The same plane was at Oshkosh a couple of weeks ago and seemed to be having mechanical issues then. I don’t think it made it into the show the second half of the week when I was there.
August 14th, 2023 at 12:14 PM ^
Was Oshkosh the show where there were a couple other (this time deadly) crashes?
August 14th, 2023 at 12:26 PM ^
Sadly yes. Both accidents on Saturday.
An AT-6 crashed in the morning with 2 on board. In the afternoon there was a mid-air between a helicopter and a gyrocopter. The pilot and passenger on the helicopter were killed.
August 14th, 2023 at 1:53 PM ^
Families taking the kids to an airshow but kids arent allowed to step foot on a football field. We are a strange group.
August 14th, 2023 at 6:49 PM ^
I parked my car at the bowling alley and tried walking down service drive. I got turned around very fast.
August 14th, 2023 at 12:39 PM ^
Is this the Russian equivalent of Iron Eyes Cody?
August 15th, 2023 at 12:22 AM ^
Sadamir.