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Monday, July 14, 2008 - 4:28 pm ET
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Connor Cruise Takes Flying Lessons

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E! News is reporting that Connor Cruise is taking flying lessons at a Burbank airfield.

At his father’s airplane hangar in Burbank this past Saturday afternoon—and after doing a few tricks on one of his two motorcycles—Connor boarded a small prop airplane for his flying lesson.

According to a source, Connor, with an instructor, practiced taking off, cruising and landing the Cessna 172 Skyhawk about three times. The teenager finished his lesson at 7:30 p.m. without incident.

At first I thought maybe he was a little too young, but sources tell E News that it is legal for a 13 year old to take flying lessons, as long as they are able to reach all of the controls and have passed the exams. As for when he can get an official pilot’s license, he has to wait until he is 16 for that. From the sound of it, he’ll be more than ready to take off!

Maybe he’ll be a shoo-in for Top Gun 2!

Monday, July 14, 2008 - 4:28 pm ET
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40 Comments

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  1. Darin

    Connor, Connor, Connor- how wonderful that you get to take flying lessons- something you and your Dad can do together. Too bad your wonderful Dad can’t see his way to flying you to see your new baby sister! What a shame…

  2. Jennifer from Australia

    Wow! Amazing what a kid can do when he puts his mind to it!

  3. Barty

    Just why are the two older child of Nicole & Tom always with Tom????? Do they ever visit with their Mom Nicole???? Just what fathering skills does Tom have, besides his money to pprovide every thing a child could want.

  4. Jennifer from Australia

    Maybe the issue with Keith Urban being in rehab and having drug and alcohol problems had something to do with it.

  5. Annie

    Here we go again!

  6. Jennifer from Australia

    Having said that, I’m glad he could stand up and be a man and husband to Nicole and clean himself up for them. I am happy for Kidman and Urban now. I think its great that they have found a way to be happy and get on with their lives.

  7. Tyler

    Maybe Isabella is with her mom.

  8. concerned mom

    I think flying lessons at that age would be totally exciting. I thought the legal age was around 16 though to actually pilot. My thought here is that I hope he does it well. Having a son-in-law who is very competitive with my grandson-his stepson, and this being something that is a total part of TC’S life, I hope Connor enjoys himself and doesn’t feel pressured to measure up. If he has fun and enjoys it, it will be something he and his dad can do together.

  9. PuckHappy

    Hopefully pictures are available of conner actually flying the plane. How exciting for him.
    Maybe with all of his dads money, conner will someday start a scholarship fund that will help under privileged youth get their pilots licenses. Being in the airline industry, I have to say pilots are really just BIG KIDS!

  10. Lauren

    I would like to fly a plane one day. Sadly I doubt that will happen. There are pcitures on x17 but none of him actually flying. There are some on his motorbike. He looks cool! He must be the envy of his friends.

    Bella may be with her mum true, being a girl, it must be exciting having a new little sister. Nicole is off to Europe to start filming, maybe she should slow down and try and concetrate on her fragile marriage, new baby and teenage kids. If it was Tom doing what Nicole is doing, seeing less of the kids and off somewhere working all the time, he would be harrassed for it.

  11. Lilianne

    Flying lessons must be exciting for this young man. Hopefully he is enjoying them. However,I personally don’t understand why he isn’t with his mother at this time. She just gave birth to his sister.

    Um…Lauren, Tom DID do exactly what you say Nicole is doing. He spent all of last summer in Europe filming while his two older children were in the US with other family members. Although, I was not aware that Nicole is heading anywhere to start filming anything. I did a search on her and did not uncover any info that would indicate she is starting a new project. I can only say, too, that it must be nice to be so privileged to be aware of the inner workings of celebrity life to know that her marriage to Keith is “fragile”. I find it ironic that you get upset when anyone says negative things about Tom and Katie and anything regarding their lives but apparantly feel it is ok for you to do the same thing to any other celebrity that want. Can you explain that to me? It smacks of hypocrisy just a bit.

  12. Mary

    I do recall that in trips to see their mother in Australia when she was filming the movie of the same name, Bella and Conor made those trips separately.
    Also when NK was filming The Invasion, there were reports of Conor being on set but not Bella.

    Now on whether the older kids were in Germany for the filming of Valkyrie. We still can’t say for sure whether that was the case or not…………….In an interview with Lara Spencer of The Insider(I think it was for the promotion for LFL) Tom did say the family were together at some points when he was asked about it.
    If they decided to skip the trip to Germany that’s their decision since I believe both their parents have said that now as teenagers they have a say in where they want to be.

  13. dahlia

    ITA Lillianne!

    How dumb do people have to be to believe a story like that in the first place? On the other side of the planet, singing and dancing??? The woman just GAVE BIRTH.

    Here’s a link to The Celebrity Truth…in the FALL, Nicole will spend a few weeks in London to rehearse for the musical NINE. Right now, she’s in Nashville with her husband and baby.

  14. Hana

    The film “Nine” starts filming in fall (OCT, Sunday will be around 3 months old) but rehearsals for the film will begin in a few weeks.

    “Rehearsals have been delayed for several weeks to give Kidman time to recuperate following the birth of daughter, Sunday Rose.”

  15. Tyler

    Lauren,
    Since you “know” that TC and KH have a solid marriage, yet NC and KU have a fragile one, I’d like to know…. what are you drinking?? HAHAHA.

    Has anyone noticed how TC has been heavy on the PR outings with Connor lately? They seem to find these two wherever they go lately, in sync with NK’s birth announcement :)

  16. Mary

    Since Nk’s birth announcement (on the 7th)TC/Conor has been seen at the Galaxy/Chivas game on the 11th and now Conor taking flying lessons with an instructor(no TC in sight) this past weekend.

  17. Tyler

    Mary,
    IMO everywhere, but where he should be. And, please don’t tell me NK doesn’t want him there. That would be a really hard sell.

  18. Anne

    Connor is old enough to know where he wants to be. I don’t understand why we have to scrutnise these people’s lives in minute detail. They know why they do the things that they do and am sure they know where to find each other if they do not agree on anything.

  19. Charlotte Rose

    “Connor is old enough to know where he wants to be.”

    I couldn’t disagree more. Connor is only 13. One of the most difficult things about being a parent is that we can’t allow our children (and Connor is just a child) to do whatever they want to do. Kids of that age don’t have the common sense and logic an adult has. Sometimes we have to do what’s right and that would include making decisions that are not necessarily popular with our teenagers. A child of that age is simply not capable of making informed decisions the way an adult is nor should they be put in that position. It’s too much pressure on them.

    Tom is Connors father and it’s his job to make a decision of that kind and not leave it up to his child. That’s why he’s the adult.

    IMHO, the right thing to do would be to send Connor to visit his new baby sister. I’m sure he wanted his children there when Katie gave birth to Suri. They should have also been there when their Mother gave birth to their other little sister.

    Put yourselves in Nicole’s shoes! Not having her older children beside her must have been painful.

    “I don’t understand why we have to scrutnise these people’s lives in minute detail. They know why they do the things that they do and am sure they know where to find each other if they do not agree on anything.”

    I think everyone on this site, myself included, scrutinizes Tomkat! If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be here!! LOL!!

    Some people just scrutinize them with a positive slant and others, in a more negative way. Neither way is right since we don’t know what goes on behind closed doors. It’s all opinion!

    As for Tom and Nicole finding each other if they need to, I’m not sure they talk. Maybe they do, but that’s the impression I got from the recent Oprah interview.

    Also, hello to all! I’ve been reading the site for awhile but just decided to post today.

  20. Kelly

    has anyone ever thought connor may be the biological kid of Tom? I think they look so much a like!

  21. PuckHappy

    No, tom was not able to produce sperm when conner was born. But luckily for kh that has changed.
    I think conner looks more like Al Cowlings.

  22. Charlotte Rose

    I hope not, Kelly! That would mean that he fathered a child with another woman while he was married to Nicole Kidman! They were married awhile when Connor came along!

    Maybe they look alike because they share the same mannerisms. Many adoptees ended up seeming to resemble their adoptive parents based on how similar their mannerisms are. After all, Connor has been Tom and Nicole’s son since just after his birth!

    On another subject, I think it must suck for Connor and Isabella to always be referred to as the “adoptive children” of Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. As if adopted children are somehow different than biological children. They’re not IMO. Not in the heart of most adoptive parents anyway.

  23. Emilie

    I think Tom and Connor look alike, too! Gosh, and here I thought I was the only one! Good eyes, Kelly!
    Puck Happy: How do you know Tom Cruise didn’t have any sperm when Connor was born???

  24. Jennifer from Australia

    They do look alike Kelly!! I hink Connor has inherited Tom’s ATTITUDE! Very Cool….which is how boys like to be at that age isn’t it?

  25. Mary

    Actually PuckHappy what you wrote is not what his former wife of close to 10 years has said. Nicole Kidman has said she was not only pregnant once but twice by TC.

  26. Tyler

    No, Anne, Connor is not old enough to know, and evidently neither is his father.

  27. Mary

    Evidently neither is their mother who is quoted as saying that her older children are at an age where they do have a say in where they want to be.

    Bella and Conor have been seen visiting their mother separately in prior years. It is very likely that Conor will visit when Bella returns, if he hasn’t already done so.

  28. Jennifer from Australia

    I remember when I was Connors age..I knew EXACTLY what I wanted to do and Exactly where I wanted to be.

  29. Dora

    I remember when I was Connor’s age, I knew exactly what I wanted to do and where I wanted to be. So did my mother – and it was usually the opposite of what I wanted.

    In hindsight, though, I can recognise that she knew better.

    After all, 13 is still a kid. Not grown up.

  30. Darin

    Children of Connor and Bella’s age have an OPINION of where they want to be but since they are NOT 18, they have no final SAY in where they want to be…so if their Father says NO…they don’t have much recourse do they?

  31. Darin

    I think Nicole would like her son to be with her to share in the joy of a new baby. In pictures of Connor with Suri he always appeared to adore her.

  32. Darin

    As Nicole adores her son which is evident here.
    I’ll bet she misses him even more so now.

  33. Darin

    oops- sorry- forgot to change URL address,
    now click to see sweet snapshot.

  34. kit

    Wow, have some people here ever heard of “doing the right thing?” Leaves little wonder that kids turn out the way they do.

  35. dido

    there are lots of photos on internet of tom katie and suri , love love love them

  36. looika

    Suri’s bangs have been trimmed. She looks much better now. Still adorable & beautiful.

  37. Charlotte Rose

    “Evidently neither is their mother who is quoted as saying that her older children are at an age where they do have a say in where they want to be.”

    Wow Mary! It sounds like you don’t care much for Nicole Kidman!!

    I happen to agree with her. Children of that age do have A SAY, but not the final word. There’s a difference. The final word is the job of their custodial parent and since the kids seem to live with Tom, that would be him. Its HIS RESPONSIBLITY to see that they do the right thing, not Nicole’s in this case.

    I don’t know whether the kids are with her now, but I really, really hope so! They need to welcome their new little sister into the world just they way they welcomed their other little sister, Suri.

    Imagine how hurtful it would be to Kidman and how detrimental it would be to those kids in the long run if they didn’t meet and bond with Sunday Rose!

  38. concerned mom

    Valentine, does Katie ever go anywhere without Tom anymore???

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