U.K.’s Prince William flies solo for first time

updated 11:52 a.m. ET Jan. 17, 2008

LONDON - Prince William was surprised, a bit nervous and finally elated by his first solo flight.

William, 25, the elder son of Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana, is having flight training with the Royal Air Force. He flew alone for the first time Wednesday.

“God knows how somebody trusted me with an aircraft and my own life,” he said of his flight in a propeller-driven trainer.

“I was doing a few circuits going round and round then Roger (Bousfield), my instructor, basically turned round and said, ‘Right, I’m going to jump out now’ and I said, ‘What, where are you going?”’

“He said, ‘You’re going on your own ...”’

No problem
Once airborne, the prince said, “it was fine.”

“You just remember your checks and do all the things you’ve got to do and fly the circuit,” he said.

“Then I was watching the runway getting closer and closer and thinking, please, please don’t mess this up,” William said Thursday.

More from msnbc.com Ice addict heads for poles, Everest | Trek posts Daily Nightly: Tim McGraw helps neighbors in need Were you paying attention? Take our weekly quiz World Blog: China puts foot down on 'Oba Mao' T-shirts Stimulus tracker: See where millions of dollars went Move over, feds — locals try stimulus, too  On Twitter: Breaking news updates | Weird and wild

MORE FROM EUROPE

Europe Section Front

Obama, Medvedev to talk weapons treaty Storm lashes Britain with strong winds Police: Body parts sold to kebab stand Blasts at Russian ammo depot kill 2 Russian policemen turn to YouTube Desert bones linked to German tourists New Italian museum has eye toward art’s future Exhibit unmasks horror of human trafficking Eastwood made Legion of Honor commander Europe Section Front   Add Europe headlines to your news reader: