THE sky is the limit for a Hartlebury student who has gained his pilot's licence at the age of 17.

Richard Vernon, of Waresley Road, took less than five months to qualify from his first lesson on June 30 to when he passed on November 9.

Richard, who attends King Charles I High School, Kidderminster, invested £6,000 - his life savings and a small inheritance from his grandfather - in the training which he hopes will enable him to fulfil a lifetime's ambition to become an airline pilot. Richard Vernon, 17, is pictured celebrating his success in his pilot's exams.

"I'm very pleased with my achievement," he said. I took to it fairly easily, although it was difficult but my enjoyment outweighed the difficulty."

And Richard, who hopes to go to Warwick University to study physics with business studies before gaining the further licences he needs to work for an airline, has also gained his provisional driving licence, just over a month after taking his first lesson.