Williston Park's Aidan Apicos, 18, now one of youngest flight instructors

Aidan Apicos on Saturday became one of the nation's youngest flight instructors, a path that began when the Williston Park teenager began playing with toy planes as a toddler.

Apicos' father, Andrew, 54, who bought some of those toy planes, watched just off the runway of Brookhaven Calabro Airport in Shirley as Aidan completed his two test flights with an examiner in a glider, the last steps toward certification as a glider instructor. Less than a month ago, Aidan turned 18, the minimum age to become an instructor.

"I'm very happy for him," said Andrew Apicos, a science teacher at Paul D. Schreiber High School in Port Washington. "He has drive, energy and determination."

In 2013, Andrew Apicos found the Long Island Soaring Association online and took his son to Brookhaven airport for a glider flight. Gliders are pulled into the air by planes and then released to fly on their own, usually slowly descending but ascending when they catch rising pockets of hot air.

Aidan's first supervised flight -- which was with an instructor from the glider association -- was short, but the second a few weeks later lasted an hour and 15 minutes, Aidan recalled. That hooked him on gliding.

"An hour in the air without any engine -- that's pretty" cool, he said.

He soon began studying for his glider-pilot certification, which he received in June.

Aidan enjoys gliding because "there are no engines or gauges. It's pure flying -- you and the airplane."

Mike Hanson, 66, of Yaphank, was one of Aidan's instructors.

"He was very mature, very professional in the way he handled himself, and very deliberate and safety-oriented," he said.

Next up for Aidan is studying to become a certified pilot for planes. He plans on making aviation a career, possibly as a pilot for big commercial jets or as a paid instructor. In the spring, he plans to start giving flying lessons as a volunteer with the nonprofit soaring association.

His dad may be one of his first students. Andrew is studying for his glider-pilot certificate and hopes to work with Aidan in the spring. The two already have flown together a few times, with Aidan in the front seat and his dad in back.

"It's great," Andrew Apicos said. "You can turn over the controls to your son and let him fly."