People: Nov. 17, 1986

Flying lessons are hardly your typical wedding present, but then the Duke and Duchess of York are hardly your typical newlyweds. Making good on her promise to have something to say to her husband at dinner, the former Sarah Ferguson took advantage of the gift of the Oxford Air Training School, and has already spent four weeks studying for her pilot's license. Last week "Chatterbox One" -- so named by local air-traffic controllers because she chatters away on the plane's radio during lessons -- completed her first solo flight, a full circle of the R.A.F.'s Benson airfield in Oxfordshire. When she'd landed, Fergie bounced happily out of the aircraft and phoned Prince Andrew, who, between his wife's giggles, pronounced he was "absolutely delighted." Fergie also received kudos over the radio from her brother-in-law Prince Charles, who was at the base to try out a new plane. Andy, of course, is already a war-seasoned helicopter pilot. No wonder they call it the Royal Air Force.