Winging It-Stranger Than Fiction

After Paul A. Sirks landed his small airplane in Urbana, Ohio, it stalled on a taxiway. Sirks got out and restarted it by hand-turning the propeller. Before he could climb back into the plane, however, it took off without him and headed notheast.
Authorities said the plane came down an hour later in a field 90 miles away.

Rob Frayser,47, was flying on autopilot from Great Bend, Kansas to Topeka 160 miles away when he blacked out at 5500 feet. He was jarred awake 190 miles past his destination when his single engine plane ran into a tree after landing in a field. Frayser broke his wrist and had a few cuts and bruises-plus a severe headache and ringing in his ears, which authorities said resulted from the carbon monoxide which cause Frayser to lose consciousnes.
"The plane just landed itself," NTSB safety board investigator Jim Silliman said. "If it hadn't run out of gas when it did, he would have died from the carbon monoxide."