The answer is yes, sort of.
If you have a plane that is stable and flies fairly slowly once you loose contact and the view is returned to you the plane does actually keep flying.
I suspect it is a bug but if you repeatedly press "C" you may eventually get back control and a rather fuzzy view.
You can then fly well beyond the red line in fact all around the Wirrabay 'island' and back if your plane has the endurance. Anyone else found this sort of thing?