The National Transportation Safety Board now has a preliminary report about the August 13th crash of a privately owned MiG-23UB Flogger involved in the Thunder Over Michigan airshow. The report shows a critical disagreement on the decision about leaving the airplane between the pilot and the back seat observer.
Former US Navy pilot, Dan Filer, was the previous owner of the MiG-23UB, the only other privately-owned Flogger in the world. The aircraft also relished the limelight at a number of some of the most important airshows, including the SUN ‘n FUN Aerospace Expo in Florida and EAA’s AirVenture in Wisconsin.
The aircraft had taken off from Willow Run airport, with ICAO designator YIP, and performed what is known as a ‘banana pass’ between the easterly running runway and westerly running runway 23. Having found that the afterburner had not lit off and therefore, resulted in a loss of airspeed, the pilot Dan Filer then charged the swing wings to full forward in his attempt to gain lift during the ‘banana pass’, then he tried to troubleshoot the issue. But the rear seat observer wouldn’t hear of it, insisting that they needed to eject.
According to the NTSB report, Filer was not prepared to eject and was still trying to steer the aircraft toward runway 27 at YIP when his ejection seat fired. “If either occupant pulls the ejection handle, both seats eject,” Filer explained. The rear seat observer could not specifically remember pulling the ejection handles but believed he might have done so.
Videos and photos of the incident have appeared on social media, depicting the left turn at the low altitude the MiG-23UB was in before the ejection. The aircraft continued its descent and impacted the ground, leaving a trail of wreckage over 600 feet long.
The MiG-23UB had two seats and was a trainer version of the Soviet design, obtained in 1981 via import from the Czech Republic. He already had another MiG-23UB airworthy, along with several single-seat versions, all part of a collection owned by Filer, who ultimately hopes to restore several other Floggers for the airshow circuit.
Such information will come in the final report, as will an assessment of how well the crew handled the emergency and whether a safe landing could have been made. This preliminary report from the NTSB does not mention exactly what happened to the engine or what altitude and airspeed the aircraft was flying at, or near the ejection.
As we told you at the time of the crash, both pilots were transported to a hospital as a precautionary measure, according to the report, they sustained only minor injuries. No one else was reported injured on the ground. It was further confirmed that the aircraft impacted terrain approximately one mile south of the runway end, where the fuselage section, which included the tail surfaces and engine, came to rest adjacent to an apartment building. The remaining part of the airplane was fragmented and distributed along a 600 ft-long wreckage path.