Scots film star Ewan McGregor is following in his brother's footsteps by training to become a pilot, it was revealed yesterday.

Scots film star Ewan McGregor is following in his brother's footsteps by training to become a pilot, it was revealed yesterday.

The Hollywood actor, from Crieff, Perthshire, whose elder brother Colin flew jets in the RAF and is now a commercial airline pilot, has started lessons at a flying school in America.

McGregor, 37, had admitted feeling airsick while on a flight in his brother's Tornado, but caught the flying bug when he was taken up in a light aircraft at a game reserve in Kenya during his Long Way Down motorcycle trek with his friend Charley Boorman.

The Star Wars and Trainspotting star, whose father James also has a pilot's licence, said: "I have flown in the back seat of my brother's Tornado and lots of small planes, but I never thought it was for me.

"Then I got in the back of this Super Cub and the cables were running past my feet and it was really old and just as soon as I got into the air I thought: I have got to do it.' All my bikes are old and slow and it is quite rare for me to have any new fast stuff."

McGregor, who has become as well known for his daring expeditions as for his acting, is considering a solo motorcycle journey in Brazil following his successful trips with Boorman.

The pair travelled from London to New York, via central Asia, Outer Mongolia and Siberia, for Long Way Round in 2004, and from John O'Groats to Cape Town last year for Long Way Down.

Despite never being a fan of the Hollywood lifestyle, McGregor recently moved his family to Los Angeles because he was fed up with life in London.