But as you might understand, at this point, it didn’t turn out the way it was planned.

Just like many royals before him, King Charles entered a military career. He has served in both the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy, but the former became his biggest passion.

King Charles – Air Force and pilot career

Like his father, Prince Philip, Charles became very interested in flying. He decided to follow in his now late father’s footsteps.

While studying at Cambridge University, in 1968, Prince Charles took his first flying lessons led by then-squadron leader Philip Pinney. The two spent two and a half years together while he learned all the essentials.

“It was a very relaxed relationship where he’d call up asking to be taken out in the aircraft on weekends, and when training was deployed to Aberystwyth one summer, he’d join us in the mess, fly as much as he could, and we even went hiking and fishing together in our down time. It was a wonderful experience, “Squadron Leader Philip Pinney recalled.

Charles moved on to enroll at RAF College at Cranwell, and in August the same year, he got his wings.

At RAF College, Squadron Leader – and later AIR Chief Marshal), Sir Richard Johns was the prince’s instructor.

“I had to put my complete faith in the pilots I was training. Prince Charles had a natural ability and picked things up very quickly. He was an easy student to teach, and I was very impressed by not just his focus and concentration but his impeccable determination to succeed. He was not going to fail, it was as simple as that,” he said.

Sir Richard Johns and Philip Pinney had prepared King Charles for the next step in his education. He prepared for a career in the Royal Navy and had military flight experiences. Not long after, Charles qualified as a helicopter pilot, flying from the Commando aircraft carrier HMS Hermes.

King Charles ‘crashed’ an airplane in 1994

As the Prince of Wales, Charles had to help his mother, Queen Elizabeth, with specific royal engagements, which meant traveling worldwide and welcoming world leaders to England. After he received his pilot license, Charles went to the Caribbean and Germany, as well as to Australia, New Zealand, Nepal, and India.

The logs for the flights have yet to be released. However, reports state that Charles could’ve been the one flying himself and royal members worldwide whenever he had the chance.

King Charles ended his service in 1976, but he would fly again years later. In 1994, when approaching Islay for a five-day official visit to Scotland, he was given the chance to land a Queen’s Flight passenger jet.

But it almost ended in tragedy, an immense tragedy.

On June 29, 1994, King Charles, who technically was a passenger and invited to land the plane, was to land on Islay.

But when approaching the runway, something went very wrong. The aircraft hit the ground at too high a speed. Charles realized that he had little runway left. Therefore, the experienced pilot decided to brake drastically to stop the plane from sliding onto the rough landscape next to the runway.

Because of the heavy impact, three tires blew. Meanwhile, the jet stopped only 60ft from a 14ft drop into a stream.

“It wasn’t quite a crash. We went off the end of the runway, unfortunately. It is not something I recommend,” Charles explained.

“He did exactly what he was told to do”

Former RAF Squadron Leader Graham Laurie was the pilot that day. During the crash inquiry, he was suspended, and no blame was put on Charles.

“The nose wheel had landed because it was right beneath us, so we were bumping along the runway,” he said. “But what we didn’t realize was the main wheels were still slightly clear of the ground, so consequently, when I took over, I still couldn’t stop it going off the end.”

Laurie, who was never formally disciplined, added. “With hindsight, of course, I should have got him to overshoot and make another approach. But I actually told him to land, so he did exactly what he was told to do.”

While Graham Laurie didn’t get any reprimands, he admitted that it had “career implications.” No person onboard received any injuries.

Furthermore, King Charles decided that the accident was the last straw. He gave up his flying license a year later and decided to ground himself from flying again. Meanwhile, at the time, St James’s Palace said it was a “personal decision the Prince took on his own.”

So, how much damage was done to the plane?

“It was a very unfortunate incident. The damage was well in excess of £1million. But then, to be fair, any aircraft accident is always expensive,” Plane expert Keith Wilson noted.

Several royal family members have died in airplane accidents

King Charles made it out without a scratch. Sadly, other royal family members have tragically been killed in air travel accidents. In 1942, Prince George, Duke of Kent, was killed in a military air crash, and Prince William of Gloucester was killed in 1972 while participating in an air show.

Still, royals don’t seem to have enough of flying, and both Prince William and Prince Harry decided to walk down the same path.

What is it that the royals are drawn to?

“Part of the attraction of air travel must be the risks. It’s a sense of adventure. I suspect they quite like the thrill of putting their life on the line,” royal historian David McClure said.

“But there might also be a deeper, psychological reason they’re attracted to flight: because they live most of their life in a gilded cage. Their life is regimented. When they go up in the air, they’re almost free. They’re literally spreading their wings.”

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