SYDNEY, Australia - A 58-year-old blind British pilot touched down in Sydney,Australia, today to end his 13,500-mile flight by microlight aircraft from London to Sydney,following the path of the classic London-Sydney air race in 1919.Miles Hilton-Barber,58, 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,said 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, as he soars into the record books as the first blind pilot to clock the 13,000-mile trip.
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 Mont Blanc and Mount Kilimanjaro, 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.
Miles Hilton-Barber also holds the British high-altitude record, taking his microlight to 20,300 feet with open-cockpit temperatures of –55 Centigrade, frosting his flight instruments.
“I may never see again,but if, through this flight, thousands of blind people in developing countries can have this gift of sight restored to them again, it will be so incredibly worth it!”,he said.
The microlight, a Mainair Quick GT450 has a 100HP 4-stroke engine, and Miles and Richard cruised at around 70 knots, making an average of two 4-hour flights each day. Their customised long-range 160-litre fuel tank enabled them to make flights of up to 10 hours endurance where necessary.
Their route took them over the English Channel, then across France and down Italy before island-hopping across the Mediterranean over Syrian air space into Jordan. From there their route took them over the United Arab Emirates, over the Arabian Sea over Pakistan, India, Bangladesh,Myanmar (Burma) , Thailand, Singapore and the island of East Timor before the long sea-crossing to Darwin, then down the Australian East Coast to Sydney.
"When I first went blind I thought it was the worst thing that could happen to me.Now I think it is probably the most exciting thing that has happened to me”,Miles said.
"The Standard Chartered Bank have very graciously offered to support our flight, and we have been humbled to see the commitment and personal involvement that their 28,000 employees around the world have shown towards their “Seeing Is Believing” charitable project",he said.
If you would like to help Miles, please either go to the Seeing Is Believing Website . All the money given will be double by The Standard Chartered Bank. They will be allocating the funds directly to the different programmes running in the individual countries and will be covering all the overhead expenses.100% of the money given will go directly to the people who need it most.
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