While many 16-year-olds look forward to taking their first drive in a car as a newly- licensed driver, Clanton’s Andrew Evans decided to fly an airplane.

Evans celebrated turning 16 on Wednesday by taking his first solo flight in a Cessna 172 at the Shelby County Airport.

“I really like how when you are up in the air, there are no restrictions,” Evans said. “That is probably the neatest part about flying.”

Evans decided to start taking flying lessons when he turned 15, after a football injury prompted him to pick up a different hobby.

“I broke all of my fingers and my hand in several places so I couldn’t play football anymore,” Evans said. “I decided to look into flying because it was something I have always thought was really neat. I really enjoyed going to the airport and watching the planes fly around.”

At 15, students learning to fly are allowed to fly with an instructor, but can fly solo at age 16 and with 22 flying hours.

Robert Glenn, Evans’ instructor, said for Evans age, it is a high achievement for him to fly an airplane solo.

“He is definitely young,” Glenn said. “It is a high achievement for someone his age. He started flying when he was 15, and he does a great job. I had the utmost confidence in him for his solo flight.”

During his flight training, Evans and Glenn flew to Auburn, toward Lay Lake, Birmingham and even flew over Chilton County.

Evans received his student’s pilot’s license after his solo flight on Wednesday, which allows him to fly an airplane by himself.

Glenn said Evans will be eligible for his private pilot’s license when he turns 17 and has 40 flying hours.

Some of the key components for a solo flight include having the student perform a landing pattern, go through emergency procedures, taking off and landing.

“You really want to be able to see that a student can handle all different types of situations,” Glenn said. “Flying a plane is one thing, but knowing how to handle it when things aren’t going your way is very important.”

Eventually, Evans will be able to perform a cross-country solo flight where he will fly 100 miles, but he has not decided on a location of where he plans to fly.

“I did get to fly over the University of Alabama, which was really cool,” Evans said.

Evans said he enjoys flying small planes and will more than likely take up flying as a hobby.

“It is definitely a challenge to remember everything once you are up in the air, but I have a lot of fun doing it,” Evans said.

Evans took off around 3 p.m. and said he thought everything went “great.”

“Right as I took off, it started raining, but I had my instructor on a radio,” Evans said. “As I was taking off my second time, a lightning bolt hit about a mile away so I just flew back, but it was a lot of fun. It felt different to be up there by myself, but it didn’t bother me.”

Evans attends Chilton County High School and is the son of Cary and Cathie Evans.