Qualified pilot at 17
4:10pm Saturday 11th December 2010
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THE sky is now the limit for a 17-year-old student from Hursley who has gained his pilot’s licence.
while most people his age are learning to drive cars, Tom Pratt has been behind the controls of the Ikarus C42 training plane.
he has taken lessons with Solent Flight, based at Lower Upham Airfield near Bishop’s Waltham since April.
he said: “It has been a fantastic experience. the instructors at Solent Flight have all been awesome, from the initial lessons where you really don’t know what you’re doing, through to the cross-country flights, the solo flights and all the class-room based teaching and exams.”
as part of his learning curve, he flew to airfields in Wiltshire, Sussex and the Isle of Wight.
in the longer term, the student of Peter Symonds College in Winchester hopes to earn a living in aircraft business.
he said: “I have wanted to be an aeronautical engineer since I can remember and this was a fantastic way of proving to universities how serious I am about a career in the discipline.”
he passed his flying exams at the end of November, and has already been offered university places at Kingston, Brunel, Sheffield and Brighton.
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