Mansour Anis, a class IXth student at Delhi Private School in Sharjah, received a certificate for his first solo flight from an aviation academy in Canada last week. His solo flight was about 10 minute-long during which he taxied the aircraft from the parking bay to the runway, took off for a flight of about five minutes and landed back, the report said.

Mansour, who flew a Cessna 152 aircraft during his solo flight, now has a student pilot permit. Apart from the flying test, he has also passed a radio communication test and scored 96 per cent in the PSTAR Test, an eligibility test for Transport Canada.

Ali, a civil engineer in Sharjah, said he had sent his son along with his wife Munira, a chemistry teacher, to Canada for the training session during the summer holidays.Munira said that her brother Qaid Faizy, a pilot with Jet Airways in India, has been an inspiration for Mansour since his childhood.