WHILE most people are pleased to pass their driving test at the age of 17, one teenager has gone one better and earned his pilot’s licence.

George Thomas started to get the bug for flying when he had a tester session at Shobdon airfield in 2004 and he has not looked back since.

He started to learn to fly in December 2006 and made his first solo flight on his 16th birthday last year after just 20 hours of lessons.

George, from Knighton, passed his test in April this year but could not apply for a pilot’s licence until his 17th birthday in July.

He celebrated getting his licence by flying his grandfather Philip Price over Leominster and Presteigne in a two-seater Cessna 152 aeroplane.

“It was great to take my granddad up after all the hard work of getting a licence,” said George.

“I think he was really pleased with how it went but we couldn’t go over Knighton because of low cloud.”