By Yuko Narushima
Blind pilot Miles Hilton-Barber felt euphoric when he touched down at Sydney's Bankstown Airport just before 8am, becoming the first blind man to fly halfway around the world.
In doing so he hopes to raise $1.2 million for Seeing is Believing, which performs cataract surgery in developing countries.
"Since I was a kid, I wanted to be a pilot," the 58-year-old said when his safety pilot Richard Meredith-Hardy landed their microlight plane, Stephanie, named after Mrs Hilton-Barber.
"When I went blind, they said you'd never fly and, thanks to people like Richard, we've flown halfway around the world," he said, scruffing up his mate's hair. "I can hardly believe we've done it."
Since the journey began in London on March 5, the pair have covered 21,000 kilometres, 21 countries, and endured extreme weather.
"Sometimes, being blind is an advantage," Mr Hilton-Barber said.
The adventurers were coated in ice when they soared through sub-zero temperatures 30,000 feet over the Lebanese mountains.
Between Penang and Kuala Lumpur, they were forced to drop to a couple of hundred feet when they were caught in a monsoon.
"We've flown through tropical storms so heavy that I thought Richard was flying through a waterfall," he said.
Though he couldn't see the lightning flashes or cliffs Mr Meredith-Hardy was dodging, Mr Hilton-Barber peaked his other senses to survive the flight.
Through a headset, he listened to the flight information he requested at the flick of a button on a switchbox strapped to his thigh. The switchbox was connected to a computer that could pick up information such as location and altitude. He navigated by typing planned flight co-ordinates into a wireless keyboard.
"This is a very sensual aircraft," he said. "I can smell what's growing in the fields below. As we fly into places like Karachi, I can smell what's been cooked in the factories.
"It's a very physical way to fly, very primitive."
His colleague described the experience as "flying a motorbike in the sky".
"It's real flying, you know," he said. "It's the difference between a car and a motorbike. If it rains, you get wet."
Mr Hilton-Barber was inspired by his blind brother, who sailed solo from South Africa to Australia eight years ago.
"That's what made me realise the problem in my life wasn't my blindness, it was my attitude to my blindness.
"The only thing holding me back was five inches, the distance between my ears," he said. "Attitude is what determines altitude."
The positive attitude pushed him on to conquer Kilimanjaro, Africa's tallest mountain and propelled him on his ascent of Mont Blanc, Europe's highest.
He also set the Malaysian Grand Prix record for a blind driver and wants to be the first blind man to break the sound barrier in a jet aircraft.
But today, his main aim is to down "a good English tea".