Bought dh an "introductory" flying lesson, need presentation

Do they still make the balsa wood planes? Should be really cheap - at least they used to be, back in the day. Or a model?

Cracker Jack box.

Cracker Jack box., with a little plastic plane.

Hallmark has a plane ornament. That is a nice idea.

The pilot should give your husband flight log. At least that is where my son got his.

What an awesome gift! I was going to suggest one of those fisher price planes but they are going for $20 on amazon but I really like the ornament suggestion so you have a memento too.

I like the ornament idea also. We gave my son a flight lesson for his 8th grade graduation, and he fell in love with flying. They did give him a log book with his first flight time recorded in it as part of the package price. He now flies a Gulfstream 5 for a corporation and he loves his job!

What about fashioning the gift certificate into a paper airplane. I also found my dad a cool card with a 3D plane at Barnes and Noble.

40 hours is really low. It's not a competition. The more you fly, the better you get and more safe you are. I actually took aviation classes in college, and the students there averaged between 60 and 80. The course includes some cross country solos, but most of the time is spent practicing take off and landings in different weather, navigation, and practicing emergency protocols. 

It's the novice pilots that have the most accidents. One little slip up can have serious consequences. I once had the whole instrument panel fall on top of me--and the yoke which is extremely sensitive--right after I had pulled up to take off. 

This particular runway cleared power lines, a boat harbour with tall sailboats, and a busy town before heading over the water of the intracoastal waterway and then the inlet into the ocean. I had around 30 hours and had instructors that were very safety oriented and went through several scenarios that imitated real life--like losing power right after take off--a very common problem since if your engine is going to have issues, it will happen when it's being strained on take off.

I know I would have crashed if I hadn't been so well prepared. The instrument board was heavy AND the engine compartment was visible and very hot. I didn't panic and was able to calmly and safely land the plane--which was harder since I couldn't see the instruments because they were face down in my lap. I did the whole thing by feel--how the engine sounded when I pulled back power, how the ground looked from 500 feet, the landmarks where I would do the different steps of the landing.
The mechanic had failed to screw the bolts back into the panel after taking it off to change out some of the instruments. 

The situation would be similar to having the whole dashboard of your car fall into your lap and onto the steering wheel while you merged into heavy traffic in the rain. 

My instructors had me practice take off and landings over and over--those are when the most mechanical and weather related issues happen--cross winds making it difficult to land, forgetting to put down the landing gear or the landing gear not coming down, the engine quitting, coming in too high or too low, hitting powerlines, etc. Flying level is super easy, and most pilots are experienced enough to fly solo for take offs and landings at 10 hours. The rest is figuring how to navigate and being safe.

Flying is amazing and your husband will love it. Safety is key to being a good pilot. Pilots have this saying--there are no old, bold pilots.

I agree with the idea of giving him one of the small balsa wood airplane kits or a model kit for the type of airplane he will be flying.

Whatever you give, you should sign the card "Blue Skies". It means good luck in a pilot's world. It's a phrase DH uses often (he's been a private pilot for over 40 years.

my world record holding friend has a great website with amazing paper airplanes: the paperairplaneguy.com

he holds the indoor flight length....his planes are origami based and he has a big variety.

That was my first thought as well. I think a balsa wood plane would be really cute and you could add the gift certificate to the end like a banner it's carrying.