Prince George’s third birthday is coming up in a few weeks, which means we are in for (in all likelihood) new portraits, and perhaps a few George appearances, to mark the occasion. (“So do I invite North to my party this year?!?” George texts Blue Ivy. “She didn’t invite me to her mermaids thing, and I’m def still not over it.”)

Today marked his first official public engagement, and it was a pretty exciting one at that, as he got to hop in some planes! Yes, George accompanied his mother and father—the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, you may have heard of them—to the Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford this morning. George was, as People puts it, “apprehensive” at first, due to the intensity of the scene. He was given “noise-blocking ear protectors,” though he can still be seen reacting poorly to the loud noises made by the planes. The Daily Mail went as far to call it a “right royal tantrum,” though if any of us were three years old and taken to a military air show, which is 800 times louder than the cartoons he is used to (who are we kidding? George probably watches Downton Abbey and Ray Donovan), subjected to a gaggle of photographers and well-wishers, meant to smile and nod and wave without showing the slightest discomfort, we would probably react in the exact same way. Hell, Kate and William have probably wanted to scream during a whole bunch of their public engagements.

Per People’s report, George “pointed at planes in the sky, waved to visitors and seemed especially fascinated by the tail rotor of a helicopter.” He also got to take a look at a Squirrel helicopter, which is the same kind his father flew when he was undergoing RAF training in 2009. (Presumably George will soon be issuing a decree that Squirrel helicopters will hereby be known as Hamsters.)

George is known to be an airplane aficionado of sorts, as, back in December, the prince was spotted in a Bucklebury café “flying” his toy airplane (“He was running around the tables flying his little red airplane going 'brrrrr' to all the people having a cup of tea,” a customer told People at the time).

While it looks like George enjoyed checking out the planes and getting to sit in the cockpit, we have a feeling he might have asked his mother and father, following the engagement, if the next one “couldn’t just be a movie . . . or one of those ‘we all just sit and drink tea and take some pictures’ things, please.”