Wong planned to study at the American School of Aviation in Chicago, but his father believed flying was too dangerous. After Wong sent his design for an airplane model to the school, they wrote to his parents, urging the Wongs to let their son attend. Wong's father still refused to pay the cost, so Wong's uncle, Wong Tee, paid instead. Soon after Wong enrolled in the American School of Aviation, the instructor was injured, and Wong's tuition was refunded. He remained in Chicago for two months, working in the E.B. Health Plane Company's factory. At the age of sixteen, Wong enrolled in the Beam School of Aviation in Celilo, Oregon. He made his first flight after less than two months of school, reaching an altitude of 5,827 feet. Between flights, he studied the theory of aviation and learned to assemble airplane parts. On one flight, Wong "reached an altitude of 7,000 feet." He claimed to have had only one accident in training, when a ground wire broke as he was preparing to take off and caused the plane to flip over. Wong received a scar under his right eye, but did not seem to be seriously injured. At the age of seventeen, he graduated with high honors and was awarded a diploma "as a regular aviator." He shared his thoughts on aviation with "The Oregon Daily Journal":"Yes, it's lonesome up there. Seems that there is nothing in the world but me and the plane. The earth looks like a checkerboard with its farms, woods, and cities. What if something were to go wrong? Well, I'd just go wrong too, I guess. You can't do anything in a case of that kind and have got to take the consequences. But there is no reason for anything going wrong with the present perfection of airplanes. All you've got to do is be careful. There is a great future for aviation and I'm glad something told me while I am young and can take full advantage of it." After graduating, Wong applied to the United States Signal Corps, but was rejected because he was under eighteen. He began planning to build his own airplane "so that he may keep in training and be in readiness to report for duty in case his services are needed before he attains the proper age for military service." Wong's early estimate of the cost was $2500 (roughly $49000 today). He returned to Portland in the fall of 1917 and began building the plane in his parents' house.