Trainee pilot has logged 200 flying hours with an instructor at her side.Lucia Sabrina Papa, who has been blind from birth, has become the first blind trainee pilot in Italy and has toured the control tower at Rome’s Fiumicino airport.Papa, 56, was born in Salice Salentino, in the southern province of Lecce, and has a retinal dystrophy. She visited the tower run by air navigation service provider ENAV, where she experienced firsthand the work of air traffic controllers and the technology they use. It was the first time she had been inside a control tower. The visit was attended by disabilities minister Alessandra Locatelli and promoted with the support of Anacna, the national association of air traffic controllers and assistants. ENAV chairman Sandro Pappalardo and the tower’s manager, Aldo Crisafulli, hosted the group.   From childhood dream to the cockpit Papa’s wish to fly began in childhood, when she lived near the Fortunato Cesari military airport in Galatina, in Lecce province, and listened to the aircraft overhead. "As a child I wanted to be the aeroplane, not the pilot, because the aeroplane flew higher and faster than the birds," she said. "I imagined this sky, immense and free, while from where I stood the earth was full of obstacles." After a career in IT, she began flying in 2016, taking the controls of several aircraft. They include the Sky Arrow and Tecnam P-92 two-seat microlights, the Cessna 152 and 172, and the Extra EA-200 aerobatic plane. She has also tried a helicopter but says she prefers aeroplanes. She now lives in Rome. She started 11 years ago with the associations “Baroni rotti” and We-Fly Team, first as a passenger. She gradually took the controls more often until she found an instructor who believed she could do much more. A tactile method Together they devised a tactile method for sensing the aircraft’s attitude and reading its instruments. "I learned what to do and when to do it," Papa said. The instructor sits beside her throughout and, in her words, "represents my eyes". She has logged 200 hours in microlights and is now flying in general aviation. Her story is told in her autobiography, Volando nell’invisibile (Flying in the Invisible).A 2019 documentary, Chiudi gli occhi e vola (Close Your Eyes and Fly), directed by Julia Pietrangeli, recounts her experience in France with Les Mirauds Volants, an association of blind pilots that uses instruments with audio signals to convey flight data.Locatelli called Papa’s story "an extraordinary testimony of passion, determination and freedom". She said it should encourage people to overcome the prejudices and cultural barriers that still risk limiting opportunities for people with disabilities.

Lucia Sabrina Papa, who has been blind from birth, has become the first blind trainee pilot in Italy and has toured the control tower at Rome’s Fiumicino airport. Papa, 56, was born in Salice Salentino, in the southern province of Lecce, and has a retinal dystrophy. She visited the tower run by air navigation service provider ENAV, where she experienced firsthand the work of air traffic controllers and the technology they use. It was the first time she had been inside a control tower. The visit was attended by disabilities minister Alessandra Locatelli and promoted with the support of Anacna, the national association of air traffic controllers and assistants. ENAV chairman Sandro Pappalardo and the tower’s manager, Aldo Crisafulli, hosted the group.   Papa’s wish to fly began in childhood, when she lived near the Fortunato Cesari military airport in Galatina, in Lecce province, and listened to the aircraft overhead. "As a child I wanted to be the aeroplane, not the pilot, because the aeroplane flew higher and faster than the birds," she said. "I imagined this sky, immense and free, while from where I stood the earth was full of obstacles." After a career in IT, she began flying in 2016, taking the controls of several aircraft. They include the Sky Arrow and Tecnam P-92 two-seat microlights, the Cessna 152 and 172, and the Extra EA-200 aerobatic plane. She has also tried a helicopter but says she prefers aeroplanes. She now lives in Rome. She started 11 years ago with the associations “Baroni rotti” and We-Fly Team, first as a passenger. She gradually took the controls more often until she found an instructor who believed she could do much more. Together they devised a tactile method for sensing the aircraft’s attitude and reading its instruments. "I learned what to do and when to do it," Papa said. The instructor sits beside her throughout and, in her words, "represents my eyes". She has logged 200 hours in microlights and is now flying in general aviation. Her story is told in her autobiography, Volando nell’invisibile (Flying in the Invisible).

A 2019 documentary, Chiudi gli occhi e vola (Close Your Eyes and Fly), directed by Julia Pietrangeli, recounts her experience in France with Les Mirauds Volants, an association of blind pilots that uses instruments with audio signals to convey flight data.

Locatelli called Papa’s story "an extraordinary testimony of passion, determination and freedom". She said it should encourage people to overcome the prejudices and cultural barriers that still risk limiting opportunities for people with disabilities.