Dubbo student flies from Narromine to Dubbo to school | Photos

As she watched her regular school bus drive past on Tuesday morning without her, 16-year-old Holly was preparing to take off on her first solo flight from Narromine to Dubbo.

Minutes later she performed a silky smooth landing on the runway at Dubbo airport and emerged smiling from the distinctive pink and white aircraft with her mobile phone ready to make a few calls to let loved ones know she had arrived safe and sound.

"Hi, I made it," she announced.

The biggest drama of the morning, in fact, was that Holly did not have a hammer on board to knock in the pegs that anchored the plane.

It was not a problem, however, as aerodrome reporting officer Ken Fisher sprang into action, taking off in his vehicle and returning seconds later with a hammer to lend to the young pilot.

Holly's mother Amanda was thrilled with how her daughter had progressed with her flight training.

She said Holly had been hooked on flying ever since she had watched a segment about it on ABC's Landline program a few years ago.

"Her dad, Dean said she should have a go and she did," Mrs Adams said.

And living in a centre like Narromine where there was such a strong interest in flying, Mrs Adams said, it was inevitable Holly was destined for the skies.

Holly, who hoped to become a commercial pilot one day, undertook her first flying lesson in September 2013 and got her pilot certificate in July last year.

The family "got a good deal" on a Jabiru 2200 aircraft at Christmas and it was soon decked out with custom pink stickers including a "Holly" one on the tail, Mrs Adams said.

The best part of flying was that "it's so beautiful looking down from up there", according to Holly.

While aspects such as navigation had not been too challenging, the most difficult part of learning to fly was learning to land, Holly said.

"That was the only thing that had stopped me from going solo before now," she said.

Holly said her instructor Norm Turner had been invaluable in helping her prepare for the solo flight.

"He's great, so thorough, he would not have let me do this if I wasn't ready," she said.

Holly said Tuesday's feat also would not have been possible without the massive support she received from her family and friends.

"And I really think it would have made my Pop proud," she said.

Meanwhile Mrs Adams said she was fairly certain Tuesday morning's flight would not be the last time her daughter flew to school.

"If she wants to fly to school every day, that's fine with me," she said.

"Maybe she can take me to Dubbo for a coffee soon."

Holly said a flight to Nyngan to visit relatives and getting her helicopter licence were also next on the "to do" list.

Despite the morning's excitement, Holly was not disappointed about having to spend the rest of the day at school, especially given she had some fairly big news to share.

But as she was not quite old enough to get her driver's licence, her proud boyfriend Alex Panetta met her at Dubbo airport to drive her the last few kilometres of her journey to school.

"I've been up in the air with her, she's great, I felt very safe," he said.

Macquarie Anglican Grammar School principal Craig Mansour said he had never had a student seek permission to fly to school before.

"Once I had checked that it was legal and it was OK with Mum for her boyfriend to pick her up from the airport, it seemed quite reasonable to me," he said.

"We do have a drive to school policy but now we might have to start thinking about a fly to school policy.

"Actually, it's a pretty cool thing. And of course we're excited about helping kids follow their dreams, that's what we're all about."