[Objectives]  To describe the flight characteristics of Athetis lepigone (Möschler) thereby improving our understanding of its biology and the ability to forecast outbreaks of this species. [Methods]  The flight capacity and flight willingness of A. lepigone were tested in a flight mill with a positive flight monitoring system. [Results]  A. lepigone adults have strong passive flight potential. During 80 h of tethered flight, the farthest recorded flight distance of adult males and females were 106.71 km and 148.32 km, the longest flight duration were 43.05 h and 40.01 h and the fastest flight speed were up to 7.60 km/h and 8.14 km/h, respectively. The average flight duration and flight distance of male moths were significantly longer than those of females, but there was no significant difference in flight velocity between the sexes. There was an obvious variation in the flight capacity of adults from 1 to 4 four days post-emergence. Newly emerged adults had weak flight capacity during their first day post-emergence but flight capacity increased to a peak level after 3 days. Flight capacity declined from day 4 but there was no significant difference in flight ability between the sexes. The observed variation in flight ability from 1 to 4 d post-emergence is mainly attributed to different proportions of strong vs weak fliers in each age group. Flight activity was mainly concentrated during the hours of darkness and displayed obvious temporal rhythms. The strongest propensity for flight occurred on days 1 and 7 after emergence. [Conclusion]  Adult A. lepigone have generally strong flight capacity that varies with age post-emergence and sex. Flight activity displays obvious temporal rhythms.