Ensign Leonor takes flight at San Javier
The Princess of Asturias begins her final stage of military training as "just another student" with a strong bond to her classmates
Princess Leonor, the Princess of Asturias and heir to the Spanish throne, arrived at the San Javier Air Force Academy in Murcia at noon on Monday to begin the last part of her military training, continuing the journey she started in August 2023.Dressed in her blue Air Force uniform, the 19-year-old heir to the throne boarded the Pilatus PC-21 training aircraft, ready to commence flight training alongside her fellow students for the year ahead. When asked by reporters if she felt nervous about flying, she replied with calm determination, “Eager to learn, but little by little.”
At the academy’s entrance, Colonel Luis Felipe González Asenjo, director of the San Javier Academy, welcomed Princess Leonor warmly. She also met key commanders and instructors with whom she will serve this year, including Lieutenant Colonels José Carlos Muñoz, Miguel Ángel Alcaide, and Gonzalo López, as well as the Student Squadron Leaders. After signing the academy’s guest book, she changed into her flight suit and visited the flight simulator and the PC-21 aircraft where training will take place.
The PC-21 is an advanced Swiss training aircraft recently adopted by the Spanish Air Force as a replacement for the older C-101 model, familiarly known as the “chicken butt.” The Princess’s father, King Felipe VI, had also flown this aircraft during his visit to the academy last June, wearing the same flight suit that his daughter now wore on her first day.
Commander Alberto Guzmán, the head of the 792nd Squadron and the very pilot who accompanied the King, briefed the Princess on the workings of the aircraft as she sat in the cockpit.
Before taking to the skies, Leonor will undergo a comprehensive aeronautical training programme, spending about 50 hours in simulators progressing from the basic to the advanced systems that replicate real flight with 180-degree visuals. When instructors consider her ready, she will start flying with an instructor until she achieves her first solo flight, known as “la deja,” a milestone not all trainees reach.
Like at her previous military training on land and at sea in Zaragoza, Marín, and aboard the Juan Sebastián Elcano, the Princess is determined to be treated as “just another student.” She will share a room with two classmates in accommodation recently renovated over the last four years, which includes modern rooms called “camaretas” with beds, wardrobes, bookshelves, and study furniture.
Her daily routine will be disciplined and demanding, starting at 6.30am with reveille and ending with lights out by 10.30pm. She will complete this final training phase by July 2026, exactly 38 years after her father completed the same three-year Armed Forces training path.
The Princess’s commitment to her military training reflects not only tradition and duty but also a close-knit camaraderie with her 74 classmates and instructors, embracing this rigorous chapter of preparation with quiet confidence.
Image: wikicommons
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