Writer

Writer's Notes On "Handy's Flying Lessons"

Chapter 1 and the epilogue take place in Chapters 1 and 2 of the EMPATH: The Luckiest Smurf story, though with some modified recycled dialogue and narration.
The "something special" Handy heard Reporter say Tailor was making is the star-patterned suit Empath receives as a birthday gift in Chapter 4 of the EMPATH: The Luckiest Smurf story.
Brainy's commentary about Tailor's lack of fashion sense refers to at least one cartoon episode, "Hats Off To Smurfs", where Tailor vehemently refuses to develop a better style hat for Vanity, saying Smurf clothes are "white, traditional, and very distinguished". Of course, Tailor does sew up a pair of red pants for Brainy to wear in "Symbols Of Wisdom" against Tailor's "better judgment", and does allow the Smurflings to create their own set of clothes. Perhaps it is because of the latter event that Tailor may have been inspired to develop Empath's star-patterned suit to set him apart from most other Smurfs around his age.
Empath suggesting that Handy may someday build something that "functions like clockwork" may be the foreshadowing of Handy Smurf building Clockwork Smurf during Empath's final absence from the village.
Empath may also be foreshadowing when the village's windmill does fly away in the episode "Never Smurf Off 'Till Tomorrow".
The cartoon episode "Breakfast At Greedy's" also has a plot element based on the one from "The Flying Smurf" -- the element in which a Smurf becomes lighter than air and floats uncontrollably.
The story "Smurf Plane" originally appeared in the Marvel Comics' Smurfs limited series in 1983. However, Papa Smurf was never a part of the original story.
The Part 2 section of the story also includes modified elements from the cartoon episode "The Winged Wizard".
Gargamel calling Handy in his smurfplane his "little blue pigeon" is an unintended connection with the Hanna-Barberra cartoon show Dastardly And Muttley In Their Flying Machines from the late 1960s, with its plot being Dick Dastardly (voiced by Paul Winchell, who also voiced Gargamel) and his dog pilot companion Muttley (voiced by Don Messick, who also voiced both Papa Smurf and Azrael) constantly chasing after a carrier pigeon with their bizarre flying inventions that always seemed to fail one way or another.