“I felt great after mine. I felt very confident.”
It may be hard to believe but Clay Aiken’s son whom he shares with longtime friend Jaymes Foster is now 16 years old.
And he’s already working toward a major life goal.
While talking with People, Aiken revealed that his son Parker Aiken is training to become a pilot.
“He’s known what he wants to do for, gosh, his whole life,” the former American Idol contestant revealed to People. “It was a little weird to me because I didn’t know what I wanted to do — I still don’t.”
According to the proud, albeit nervous, father, Aiken said Parker has never once “changed his mind” when it comes to fulfilling his dreams of being a pilot, sharing that the teenager has “just went and did his first solo flight two weeks ago, so a big milestone there.”
“Now we’re planning on the next one, which I’ll need even more Xanax for,” Aiken admitted, noting that flight will consist of flying across the state on his own.
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“I’m not going to be able to see the plane,” Aiken explained, saying he has yet to join Parker on one of his flights, although his mom Jaymes Foster has. “You’re gonna have to sedate me. Just call an anesthesiologist because I don’t have the nerves for that,” despite the rave reviews Parker has received from his instructors.
“His instructors all have said he’s better than the adults that they’ve taught, but like I said, he’s been focused on it for years, and that’s what he wants to do,” Aiken says.
“I’m not worried about his skill level. I’m worried about the plane. I told him, ‘When you are flying in a big plane, we can talk, but I don’t do those JFK Jr. planes.’“
“He knows what he’s doing,” Aiken conceded. “His idol is [pilot] Sully Sullenberger,” who famously landed a commercial plane in the Hudson River after a bird strike disabled both engines, “and he wants to be as good as him. And that’s what he puts his energy into, and I think he is.”
