The You Raise Me Up hitmaker started training after he met some pilots at one of his concerts.

He tells U.S. morning show Live! with Kelly and Michael, "I've been thinking about it since I was a kid and a couple of pilots came to my show once and they said, 'Hey, we train over at the airport, would you like to come and try our flight simulators?' and I was hooked."

He continues, "The greatest thing about flying is... the freedom of it. You can just get up and go.

"(One time) we decided while we were doing our lesson that we were hungry. So we just landed at Oxford, Connecticut airport. We just pulled the plane up right next to the airport restaurant and ordered (food)..."