A small but gutsy aircraft took off by itself from a grass strip north of Newcastle and was tracked by radar flying to freedom over the North Sea earlier this year, according to a report submitted to the UK’s air accident agency.
The latest monthly bulletin from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch said the pilot had planned to fly the two-seat microlight but, with a flat battery rendering the electric start inoperational, they decided to hand start the propeller, which is located at the back.
“The engine started but the aircraft accelerated away from the pilot and took off,” the report said of the incident on 3 October. “It was subsequently tracked by radar as it flew over the coast north of Newcastle and flew out to sea.”
The British-made Pegasus Quantum 15 is a lightweight recreational aircraft, with a hang glider-style wing, three wheels and an open cockpit.
While the aircraft is no longer in production, its manufacturer has described it as having “peerless flying characteristics”, although it did not say whether the design was so steady as to be flown without a pilot.
On what was probably its last trip to the skies, the aircraft registered as G-MYZJ took off from Athey’s Moor airfield in Northumberland, a small aerodrome popular with microlight pilots, which is about eight miles (13km) from the coast.
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch reported on the flight in a section that covers accidents submitted by “aircraft commanders”, and warned that the accuracy of the information provided “cannot be assured” as they had not been properly investigated.
While the agency had not conducted a full review to determine the final destination of the pilotless flight, it said: “It was presumed to have subsequently crashed into the sea.”
