Blind Pilot Flies Halfway Around Globe

British Adventurer Touches Down In Australia After 59-Day Flight In Microlight

(AP)  A blind British adventurer touched down in Sydney, Australia on Monday to end an epic 13,500-mile flight by microlight aircraft from London.

Miles Hilton-Barber, a 58-year-old father of three, braved snowstorms, freezing temperatures and torrential downpours during his 59-day journey under the supervision of sighted co-pilot Richard Meredith-Hardy, 46.

"It's the fulfillment of an amazing dream," Hilton-Barber told reporters at Sydney's Bankstown airport.

"I've wanted to be a pilot since I was a kid. Now I'm totally blind and I've had the privilege of flying more than halfway around the world," he added.

Hilton-Barber, who lost his eyesight to a hereditary condition about 20 years ago, is hoping the trip will raise $2 million for the charity Seeing is Believing, which works for the prevention of blindness in developing countries.

He took to the skies from Biggin Hill air base in south London on March 7 in a microlight aircraft — which looks like a cross between a tricycle and a motorized hang-glider — with the aid of an audio device that reads out navigational information such as air speed and altitude.

Hilton-Barber has also conquered Mount Kilimanjaro and Mont Blanc, run marathons in the Sahara and Gobi deserts, and even attempted to reach the South Pole, hauling a sledge over 250 miles of Antarctic ice.

[michellem99-2009]

I am grateful to this man. I know the world of the blind. He had a sighted guide who is a flyer as well. So they were a team. It is wowderful that we have the talking devices to make this so.
I am sorry the fully sighted is more blind that us who live it.Us blind folks are safe as we have to be. I was born with what useable sight I have in one eye. I did not ask for it.So you each can see to drive,live a care-free,sight filled life. I can only ask what is that like as I don't know and will never know. I use large print to access things on computer. Young people go blind,as the seniors.

[krotec54]

His 59-day journey was under the supervision of sighted co-pilot Richard Meredith-Hardy, 46, that sat behind him.
The Microlight aircraft %u2014 which is a two person craft that looks like a cross between a tricycle and a motorized hang-glider %u2014 with the aid of an audio device that reads out navigational information such as air speed and altitude. He will feel the sun%u2019s ray, air temperature, and air pressure.

[gramto7]

I'd much rather this man was flying my plane than a certain 4 that were flying on 9-11-2001!!

[extremophil]

Just as long as he ain't flyin my plane.

[krotec54]

Forward, to go beyond the darkness to conquer the World.