Cleanup, investigation underway after jet crashes at Thunder Over Michigan air show
BELLEVILLE, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) - The National Transportation Safety Board says both passengers on a MiG-23 jet that crashed at the Thunder Over Michigan air show on Sunday are in stable condition.
The jet crashed just feet away from the Waverly on the Lake apartment complex in Belleville.
"You know, your mind is just in a thousand different places. It's like, 'Holy crap,' you know?" says Waverly tenant Jayse Benson, who heard the jet and saw it go down from his balcony. "After I heard those two pops, which I found out was the pilots ejecting, I was looking out my back door window, and all of a sudden, I just kind of see a plane fly that way, and I'm like, 'Wow, that's really low.' All of sudden, I see a big mushroom cloud."
The jet struck several unoccupied vehicles at the apartment complex but missed hitting the complex itself. No one at the complex or air show was injured.
"In this case, we have a fairly large plane, and the fact that both of the pilots survived and there were no ground injuries is a very good outcome," says John Brannen, a Senior Air Safety Inspector for the NTSB.
Brannen says before the crash, the jet was on its second of three passes around the airport as part of the show.
An investigation into the aircraft is ongoing. Brannen says it could be months until concrete facts surrounding the crash are available.
"We are arranging to have a recovery crew come get the airplane so that we can do further examination off-site," Brannen said. "Right now, all of the information that we have is very preliminary. I can't really draw any conclusions from what we know at this point, and that will take several months before we can get further into the investigation."