'It's easier' - Yorkshire teenager earns private pilot licence before passing her driving test

Mollie Wadsworth, 17, passed her test after spending seven weeks of her summer holidays learning how to fly a plane.

But even though she is currently taking driving lessons, she claims she would “much rather be flying”.

The sixth form student said: "Driving lessons are OK, but I’d much rather be flying.

"I find it much easier to fly than drive, probably because I enjoy it more and there are also less people in the air than on the roads.

"I do want to be a pilot in the future.

"It has been my dream since I was about eight-years-old and I have been working towards it ever since then."

Miss Wadsworth took her flying lessons through The Honourable Company of Air Pilots after she was gifted a scholarship by them.

It only took her seven weeks and 45 hours of flying before passing her test.

Miss Wadsworth, who works as a lifeguard alongside college, said: "Getting my licence was like a dream come true.

"It was a strange mix of shock and absolute happiness.

"Completing my licence was something I had wanted to do since I was so young, so it was like I had made young me proud too.

"It really was amazing, and definitely one of the best days of my life."

She first became interested in being a pilot after her uncle introduced her to a flying simulator.

She then joined the 2431 (Keighley) Squadron air cadets when she was 12 and then flew a plane for the first time with them.

Miss Wadsworth, of Bingley. said: "I have been interested in flying since I was really young.

"I used to love playing on my uncle’s driving games and train games, but when he introduced me to a flight simulator, I knew that it was going to be a huge passion.

"I first flew a plane in 2019 with air cadets. I was 13 and it was just before my 14th birthday, so I saw it as somewhat of a birthday present.

"It was really, really cool, and it made me realise how much I had a passion for aviation and how much I wanted to be a pilot."

Her father Harvey, 55,said: "I'm so proud of her - it was a fantastic feeling when we found out.

"I was over the moon and really chuffed for her.

"She's taking me out in the plane soon but I'm looking forward to it, I'm not nervous about it in the slightest."