HEYWORTH - No playing football. No riding motorcycles. No off-road vehicles. Instead, he chose to pilot a glider.

On his 14th birthday, Chris Miller of Heyworth became the youngest person in the recorded history of the 60-year-old Illini Glider Club to receive a license to fly solo. According to the club, it's also the youngest possible age that the Federal Aviation Administration allows for licensing in any form of flight.

Piloting a glider really is pretty safe, and there are long-term benefits in starting early, said Chris' father, Dan Miller, an associate professor of mathematics and computer science at Millikin University.

"(Gliders) can land just about anywhere," he said.

Chris earned his license to solo after a couple of years of flying and studying.

"There was ground school instruction," he said. "Testing by the club."

On a recent sunny day, in front of guests and fellow club members, Chris first went aloft with his flight instructor, Jim Humphrey, before taking a solo flight. But on that solo, he was barely airborne when the tow pilot taking the engineless glider up simulated a break in the tow line.

"Now he's got to get back safely," his mother, Paulette Miller, said, matter-of-factly.

"Poor Chris," lamented Wolfgang Spieker, a club member and crew chief, at being tested that way in front of visitors.

Once landed though, Chris soon was aloft again, eventually bringing "very good, beautiful landing" comments from Dave Pontius, club president.

Though Chris is the only family member who flies, his parents log flight times for the club's pilots and its aircraft. His mother said she is waiting for Chris to turn 16 and earn the license that will permit him to carry passengers before she takes her first soar in a glider.

For Chris, an eighth-grader at Cornerstone Christian Academy in Bloomington, flying goes back further than just the last two years. He thinks the idea may have been born listening to his father talk about his days in the Air Force.

"Since he was itty bitty, he wanted to be a pilot," his mother said.

His father added that Chris expressed interest in being a military pilot. "We have taken him on trips to the Air Force Academy and the Citadel to show him what was expected of military officers, and his interest continued to increase."

At age 9 or so, he was given a promise to visit the Piatt County Airport near Monticello, the glider club's official home, Paulette Miller said.

"He remembered."

So the day after his 12th birthday, Chris soared for the first time, a ride to see how he handled being in the air.

"That was all she wrote," she added.

Though he's grown a foot over these last two years, Chris was so short initially that he had to be seated on pillows to see over the cockpit instruments, Humphrey said. Humphrey, also chief flight instructor for the club, said he had a long discussion with Chris' parents and they, in turn, with Chris before he began taking lessons. The goal was not only to explain all of the details involved in learning to fly but to assure Chris' commitment.

It's a rare weekend that Chris and his parents aren't at the airport for more practice and instruction. Now he's thinking he'll also go for an instructor's license, so he can teach others to enjoy as he does.

"You have to be determined," Chris said.

"Up there, every decision you make is important."

amannlein@herald-review.com|421-6976