Photo courtesy of Merrick County Sheriff’s Office.
You come across stories like these from time to time, where someone manually props up a small plane without anyone at the controls, and it takes off unexpectedly. We ran a piece a few years ago about a Cessna that went on its own but never actually took off, instead causing chaos among the planes on the ramp.
In this particular instance, the spontaneously autonomous Cub got off without any hindrance and decided on its own to take to the skies. One can only imagine the sinking feeling in the stomach of the person who started it up like that, thinking, “Now what do I do?” And you know the answer is, “Absolutely nothing.” Just wait for it to crash and hope it doesn’t hit anyone, number one, and, two, not something that’s extremely valuable. Crash into the old beat-up car in the parking lot instead of the expensive Tesla, please, oh please.
Photo courtesy of Merrick County Sheriff’s Office.
The details are rather scarce, but the Merrick County (Nebraska) Sherriff’s Office informed a local reporter that the plane was “undergoing maintenance” when this happened. So it was most likely a case involving an A&P. Once again, can you envision the panic that must have gripped the owner when they called to check on the progress of their beloved little plane? “It was like that when you brought it in,” won’t cut it in this situation.
We will update the story as more details emerge, but for now, send some kind thoughts to whoever is having a tough time dealing with this.
