Why drive when you can fly? That seemed to be the thought of 15-year-old Leslie Crews of Cary, who doesn’t yet have her driver’s license but has been working on earning her pilot’s license this past year.

Leslie, a freshman at Athens Drive High School, has been to ground school and is currently taking private flying lessons along with her mother, Barbara Crews.

It all started with a Christmas gift from Leslie’s grandfather, a retired Air Force pilot who served for 30 years. Just a little over a year ago, Leslie’s grandfather gave her family the chance to take a “history” flight in a T-6, a plane used to train pilots in World War II.

One may expect that a freshman in high school might be a bit nervous to fly in a World War II plane, but not Leslie. “Stuff like that to me isn’t really scary” she said, speaking about heights.

She was even allowed to fly the T-6 for a brief moment. After that, it was only a matter of time. “Me and my mom decided to take ground school together,” Leslie said.

The daughter and mother enrolled in ground school near Sanford last March. Ground school is for future pilots who wish to begin pilot training and includes 48 hours of work and classes. As the name implies, it doesn’t include actual flying.

That would soon change.

Not long after ground school, Leslie and her mother began their private flying lessons. When Leslie recalled her first lesson, she remembered expecting the instructor to do most of the flying. To her surprise, she was in the pilot’s seat with the instructor guiding her, and yet, “The first time I wasn’t scared, really.”

Leslie, who has one or two lessons a week, has already logged 10 hours of flight time, but being a pilot requires much more than time in the air. Leslie said that before she flies, “I have pre-flight inspections and I have to call the weather.”

Several weeks ago, Leslie received her learner’s permit for driving, but she already knows how to take off in a plane. “I have taken off before, but I haven’t landed yet,” she said.

Leslie plans to own a plane one day and sees flying as a good hobby. “I don’t think I’d want to have flying as a career,” she said.

In order to obtain their pilot’s license, Leslie and her mother must log 50 hours of flight time. Then they must pass a written test and a three-hour flight observation administered by the Federal Aviation Administration. Leslie can take the test once she has the hours and turns 16, but she plans to get more experience first. “I’ll probably wait,” she said, “I’d be more comfortable if I waited awhile.”

Because of a thoughtful grandfather, two more pilots are in the making.

When Leslie and her mother finally get their licenses, their family will have three generations of pilots.