[imagesource:youtube/abc]

Ever since the Ramstein disaster in 1988, airshows have had a slight edginess about them as crowds are enthralled with the antics of pilots and their incredible flying machines. But every so often, things still go horribly wrong, as was the case in Michigan.

A Soviet-era MiG-23 fighter crashed into unoccupied cars in a huge plume of fire and smoke, with the pilot and passenger managing to eject only moments before the crash.

As always, someone managed to capture the fiery tragedy on camera.

The pilot of a Cold War-era jet noticed it was losing power and decided to eject himself and a crew member before the Soviet fighter plane crashed in suburban Detroit.

The pilot had serious but non-life-threatening injuries, while the passenger left with minor injuries after they came down in a nearby lake.

“It’s very fortunate, of course, that nobody on the ground was injured”, said John Brannen, senior air safety investigator at the National Transportation Safety Board. “The plane travelled about 500ft (152m) after the initial impact, went through some trees and wound up here next to the apartment building.” he added.

The MiG-23, which was built in the former Soviet Union in 1981, was a privately owned aeroplane.

[source:bbc]