[Lumberjack]

Yeah, right.

I just hate when my Cessna 182 inserts its own ignition key, fires itself up, removes the yoke safety stop all by itself, removes all of its wheel chocks, works the foot pedals to turn around many of the land based obsticles that would nose it into the ground, steers around other aircraft on its own, pulls its accelerator knob back and carb heat on, revs down the runway and takes off at an angle which causes flight, yet maintains, apparently, a lesser angle for two hours without flipping itself over. I just hate when that happens.

This "pilot" has a lot to answer for, IMO.

[KirklandJunction]

I heard they found it.....crashed of course.
Darn, another Aeronca Champ gone!

[Jack Wilson]

This would confuse the hell out of a Muslim terrorist when he tries to commandeer the aircraft.

[Jack Wilson]

This would confuse the hell out of a Muslim terrorist when he tries to commandeer the aircraft.

[blackdog]

Now if the legislative branch of the government would just do the same.......

[VMI70]

Authorities...say it likely crashed after running out of fuel

Really?

[Jerry_M]

Contrary to some other posts here, this is not in the least bit unrealistic. Those older tube and fabric high wing planes have very low stall speeds, and being a tail wheel configuration already had a good angle of attack sitting on the ground. Add a little bit of power and away she goes.

I remember seeing a Piper Cub that was loosely tied down with about a 20-30 kt. wind coming straght down the nose. It strained against the chains and had all three wheels off the ground a couple of times until it was snugged down.

[Res Nullius]

Not only possible but probable under the right circumstances. Once upon a time, I knew a couple of guys who owned a Champ which needed to be hand proped. If one were flying it alone into a remote area, the modus opperendi was to tie the banner release hook [installed for just this purpose]to a secure object with a length of rope, pre-set the mixture and throttle, and hand prop the little beast. Once in caught it was a scramble to re-enter and pull the release lever. Assuming the pilot in this case did not have a release device, the A/C probably 'escaped' while he was untieing the tail wheel.