The rest aren't fine:

The plane flew but the clouds.

The plane flew besides the clouds.

The plane flew considering the clouds.

...and there might be another in addition to the one you identified above that I repeat below, Milo, but I haven't carefully analyzed the list yet:

The plane flew concerning the clouds.

Edit: "According to the road map, our route was wrong-minded." Now, given the use of "according to" in that sentence, could we make a leap and say the sentence, "The plane flew according to the clouds." I don't think so. It seems lame to me.