A MICROLIGHT plane flew off without its pilot after he got out to start it.
The Pegasus Quantum 15’s battery was flat so he climbed out of the cockpit and walked to the engine at the back.
He turned the propeller to successfully fire it up — but the plane then moved forwards without him.
It headed down the runway and, to the stranded pilot’s horror, took off from Athey’s Moor Airfield, Northumberland.
The two-seater aircraft was never seen again after the bizarre incident on October 3.
A report by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch said: “It was subsequently tracked by radar as it flew over the coast north of Newcastle and flew out to sea.”
The AAIB concluded: “It was presumed to have subsequently crashed.”
One aircraft enthusiast said: “It probably is the weirdest accident report that I’ve read.”
Another said the pilot was lucky to have escaped harm.
A similar incident was recalled in the US when an unmanned light aircraft “careered around an airfield, scattering people here and there”.
It got to 12,000ft before running out of fuel and landing in a field.
