Gisele Bundchen a step away from getting pilot license

Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen has passed the first part of her helicopter flying exams just months after starting a series of lessons and her tutor insists she is a natural in flight.

"Gisele hasn't finished her license yet, but she did pass her written exam. Now, there is one more step along the way, the practical exam, which is coming up in another week,” starpulse.com quoted Shoreline aviation president Keith Douglass as saying.

"She has been doing an excellent job. She is very dedicated. She flies at least three days a week. Flying a helicopter isn't easy - it is a handful, because you can't stop flying and just cruise but she is doing great," he added.

At the same time Douglass admits that Bundchen's huge baby bump is making her time in the cockpit tricky, as the 29-year-old supermodel is due to give birth to her first child with her American football player husband Tom Brady next month.

"We have pilots that fly right up to the end of pregnancy. She doesn't go very high, maybe 500 feet or 1,000 feet, which is nothing. She is always close and can get down quickly if she needs to. She is feeling great and looking great," said Douglass.

"She has been doing an excellent job. But she is almost to a point where she is too big to be flying," he added.

Last updated on Nov 3^rd, 2009 at 23:24 pm IST--IANS