A 14-YEAR-OLD boy has become the youngest solo pilot at Wolds Gliding Club at Pocklington.

After two months of training and 51 flights, Will Blackburn who lives in Seaton Ross, was sent solo by instructor Dave Holborn. Will joins only a handful of glider pilots in the UK who have managed to go solo at this age after recent changes in European flying rules.

He had his first glider flight on May 5 and loved every minute of it. After that he was down at the club to practice as often as possible and went solo on Sunday.

Will said: “ It was brilliant. All this couldn’t have happened without the instructors and everybody at the club. Now I want to get more experience, improve my flying and, long term, become an instructor myself. My aim is to become an RAF or commercial pilot.”

Chief flying instructor John Norman said: “He has, by application and dedication, shown that his generation is capable of making decisions that we would not normally assume of them.”