There have been other reports of planes being hand propped and taking off at start up, then flying till out of fuel and landing themselves. Here's one fighter jet that not only landed itself, it recovered from a spin on its own to land after the pilot ejected.

http://www.f-106deltadart.com/71fis_Pil ... 580787.htm

Boy, and I got excited when I found a weather balloon when checkin' cows!

What a small world, one of my friends who I happen to rent a hangar from is retired Col Lee Wolford. I have heard this story directly from him.

Being a Navy pilot I just have to say it....seems as though their planes fly better without the pilots aboard.

One day about 15 years ago, some friends of mine were out ice fishing with their planes on skis.
After fishing, they propped the vagabond, and away it went at around half throttle.
The plane gently circled a couple of times around the lake, passing quite close to the other aircraft.
One guy grabbed the sleeping bag that he was using as an engine tent and ran out to try and throw it into the prop, in an attempt to snuff it. Once he realized that this was way too unpredictable, and dangerous, they let it go.
It just dragged itself into the air, and tried to climb away, but with the reduced throttle setting, it climbed, then stalled into the ground destroying it.

crazyivan wrote:Being a Navy pilot I just have to say it....seems as though their planes fly better without the pilots aboard.

How does it go...

A Navy pilot breaks ground and flies into the wind...
An Air Force pilot breaks wind and flies into the ground...

Just sayin.....