Prince William Gets his Pilot’s wings

Prince William Gets his Pilot’s wings

27-year-old Prince William’s dream of being a search and rescue helicopter pilot is coming closer to reality as he graduated from flying school and was awarded his wings.

According to an article on People.com, “William… graduated from the Defence Helicopter Flying School at Royal Air Force Shawbury, where he received his wings presented to him by his father Prince Charles, acting in his capacity as Air Chief Marshal.”

William’s longtime girlfriend, 28-year-old Kate Middleton, was also present at the ceremony, where she rose to her feet as William took his place among the other honorees. This monumental event would be the last time the two would see each other before William sets forth on his first official overseas tour, which is a five-day tour of New Zealand and Australia, on behalf of his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth.

The People.com article goes on to say that, “Friday's honor followed a 12-month training course at Shawbury during which William, for a time, shared a house with his brother, Prince Harry, who was there to learn to fly for the Army Air Corps.”

In December, William, also known as Flight Lieutenant Wales, completed the flying requirements of the course which included 80 hours of training on the Griffin HT1 helicopter as well as courses in advanced handling, night flying, emergency handling and tactical and formation flying.

The People.com article then mentions that, “The royal will begin the search and rescue conversion course at RAF Valley in Wales in late January. If successful, he'll become a fully operational search and rescue pilot with one of the six UK-based Royal Air Force search and rescue forces later this year. He would then serve around three years as a pilot. But first up, William is due in New Zealand to open the country's Supreme Court building Monday.”