SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - A blind British adventurer touched down in Sydney
Monday to
end an epic 13,500-mile flight by microlight aircraft from London.
Miles Hilton-Barber braved snowstorms, freezing temperatures and torrential
downpours
during his 59-day journey under the supervision of sighted co-pilot Richard
Meredith-Hardy.
"It's the fulfillment of an amazing dream," Hilton-Barber, 58, 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."
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.
(AP) Blind Microlight pilot Miles Hilton Barbour 58, left, of Great Britain and
his co-pilot Richard...
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 also has 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.
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