I've heard of flying blind (flying without the use of instruments), but pilot Kaiya Armstrong is taking that to a whole different level.

The blind pilot just completed a flight in a single-engine Cessna 172 Skyhawk from Arizona to Washington DC and back. You can see the flight path here. She flew with a co-pilot, Tyler Sinclair, who acted as her eyes and talked her through the flight.

He said,

She's flying the whole thing, I'm just there to kind of talk her through it, I barely touch the controls.

The flight was sponsored by The Foundation for Blind Children, and Armstrong was selected to train and make the trip based on an essay and a video she submitted. She lost her sight at age 14 due to an autoimmune disorder, but she has not let that stop her.

She studied charts and flight simulations in braille and learned to fly the plane using touch and hearing.

Armstrong says,

I've had to go through extensive ground school and in-flight training just to figure out all the ins and outs and all the details. They were able to get me a poster of the inside and an exact replica, and I was able to Braille it at home, so I put it up on the wall or on the table and I just sat in front of it and practiced for hours.

When asked why she wanted to fly, Armstrong said,

There's so many people out there that don't realize that they don't have limitations. I want this flight to prove to everyone, to the world, to stop limiting yourself.

And as amazing as it is, Armstrong isn't even the first blind woman to fly a plane. That honor belongs to another blind woman who was the epitome of living a life without limits: Helen Keller.

That's right, Helen Keller flew a four-engine Douglas C-54 Skymaster over the Mediterranean for 20 minutes, though she did not land and take off like Armstrong.

These ladies are a good reminder for us mere mortals with the advantage of all our senses: Work hard at your dreams and don't give up.