MESA, Ariz. — Kaiya Armstrong took off from Falcon Field Friday, fling over the East Valley and toward the Superstition Mountains. And she didn't see any of it.
Why? Because she has been blind for the last seven years.
"It's such a big event," Armstrong said. "It proves to everyone that we don't have limits."
Armstrong lost her sight at age 14. Doctors don't know why, even today. She relearned how to do everything without the ability to see. She walks with a cane and now reads braille...which is how she got through ground school at Leopard Air in Mesa with her instructor.
“The hardest part for me has been learning how to talk to tower and ground control," she said.
And as far as her interest in flying, that began in 2020.
18 months ago, Armstrong decided she wanted to learn to fly. With the help from the Foundation for Blind Children, she found a flight school willing to teach her.
"She's actually really a natural," her instructor, Tyler Sinclair said. "She's fantastic."
Sinclair added that she's now at the point where she knows how much to turn if she's a few degrees off course.
With Sinclair as her eyes and her co-pilot, Armstrong took off Friday for a seven-day trip to Washington D.C. She'll break up the flight into a few different legs, saving some days in case of bad weather. Her first stop is Colorado Springs.
"It's also for myself proving to myself that I need to stop giving myself those limits," she said.
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