Source: The Hindu
(http://www.hinduonnet.com/2007/05/01/stories/2007050103181300.htm)
Epic flight by visually disabled pilot
PHOTO: AP
Visually disabled microlight pilot Miles Hilton-Barber at Sydney's Bankstown
Airport on Monday.
SYDNEY:
A visually disabled British adventurer touched down in Sydney on Monday to end
an epic 21,725-km 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 54-day journey under the
supervision of a sighted co-pilot Richard Meredith-Hardy (46).
``It's the fulfilment of an amazing dream,'' Mr. 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 said. Mr.
Hilton-Barber, who lost his eyesight to a hereditary condition about 20 years
ago, is hoping the trip will raise $2.5 million (Australian) 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
motorised hang-glider with the aid of an audio device that reads out
navigational information such as air speed and altitude.
Mr. 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 400 km of Antarctic ice. AP
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