Found: A plane wreck that could solve a 50-year-old mystery
bbc.co.uk
bbc.co.uk
Mechanics have been known to get in and take off in planes before. But they can't land them. Knowing how the controls work and the mechanics of flight is good enough to get into the air, as the airplane will take off pretty much by itself. But landing is a whole 'nother story.
Once you're in the air, you're a dead man.
There was one in Seattle a few months ago.
http://www.historicracer.com/aviation/accidental-fighter-pil...
Not drunk, and not just a mechanic, but still!
That for sure helped a bit...
I held a private pilot certification for a short while, and landed my 2nd ever time on the controls, albeit in a tiny single-engine cessna. While larger planes are slower to react to inputs, the basics still apply. But a crash off the coast suggests a landing attempt was not his penultimate manuver.
The military was faced with a near certainty of him dying crash-landing it, vs a near certainty of him dying along with others on the ground.
The military was faced with the same choice with the mechanic a few months ago in Seattle that stole an airplane. Fortunately, they didn't have to make the decision because he crashed it fairly deliberately in a remote area.