Prince William Flies Solo with RAF

William, 25, the elder son of Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana, is having flight training with the Royal Air Force, and flew alone for the first time on Wednesday - with just 8 1/2 hours flying time to his credit.

"God knows how somebody trusted me with an aircraft and my own life," William said of his flight in a Grob 115E propeller-driven trainer.

Video: Prince William Takes First Solo Flight

"I was doing a few circuits, going round and round. Then Roger, my instructor, basically turned round and said, 'Right, I'm going to jump out now' and I said, 'What, where are you going?'"

"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 is a second lieutenant with the Blues and Royals, but during the four months he will be attached to the Royal Air Force he is known as Flying Officer William Wales. He is undergoing an accelerated training course at RAF Cranwell in east-central England with 1 Squadron of 1 Elementary Flying Training School.

"My veins run through and through with army blood," William said. "But the RAF have got completely different principles and ethos and are a great bunch of guys and very professional. I relished the opportunity to come and be here."

After his initial training, William is to move to another base to work on the Tucano T1 plane and then to yet a third base to learn to fly the Squirrel helicopter.

Squadron leader Roger Bousfield, who sent William on his unexpected solo flight, praised the prince's aptitude.

"He's worked very hard and has coped marvelously to pick it all up and that's been backed up with some natural talent in the air," Bousfield said.

"He's got good handling skills and learns lessons really quickly and keeps hold of those lessons, which makes it easier for the next time we're in the air."

Classmate Mark Shipley, 22, said it was "kind of surreal" to meet William in flight training, "but now we play football and have drinks with him."

"William is working even harder than us because he has got such a short space of time to cover his course," Shipley said.

William's father, Prince Charles, trained as a pilot in 1971, and qualified as a helicopter pilot in 1974. He served for a time with 845 Naval Air Squadron aboard the aircraft carrier HMS Hermes.

He currently is a vice admiral in the Royal Navy, lieutenant general in the army and air marshal in the Royal Air Force.

William's uncle, Prince Andrew, spent two decades in the Royal Navy, including flying a Sea King helicopter in combat during the Falklands War.

Describing his excitement, William said, "Going solo is one of those things - if you had a list of the top 50 things to do before you die, it would be in there."