A homeless man tried to flee a town in Maryland, USA in a stolen plane but crashed the single-engine aircraft on a municipal airport runway before he left the ground, police said.

Vagrant aviator Calvin Cox, 51, was due in court on Monday to face charges of felony theft, burglary and trespassing.

A sheriff's canine team found Mr Cox in the woods near the airport after an airport worker reported the crash of the Piper Super Cub at about 2:15 am on Monday.

Police said that while Mr Cox was "familiar" with aeroplanes, he was not proficient in their operation. Oddly there are no reports suggesting the hobo was, you know, inebriated. He simply wanted to get out of Maryland for a bit.

The airplane was taken from a hangar on airport property and belongs to the Mid-Atlantic Soaring Association. Starting it required manipulation of switches and buttons, difficult for someone unfamiliar with the procedure.