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A blind woman from New Mexico landed safely in College Park Airport in Maryland this week after flying a Cessna half way across the country. Kaiya Armstrong can only see a few inches in front of her face, but that didn’t slow her down on a flight that took her from New Mexico to D.C.. Her co-pilot and flight instructor gave her audio cues along her route, but she was fully at the controls. Due to inclement weather, she arrived a day early in D.C. to commemorate World Sight Day, as well as lend some encouragement to blind teens.
… The 22-year-old Armstrong lost her sight when she was just 14. She struggled in the early years of her blindness until she became involved with Foundation for Blind Children. The foundation helped her learn to navigate her life without sight. When it offered her the chance to learn how to fly, she jumped on it, even though she’d never even been on an airplane before.