Sydney, March 3 (DPA) A blind British pilot is to take off this weekend in a bid to fly his microlight plane to Australia, news reports said Saturday.

Miles Hilton-Barber, 55, will be sitting alongside sighted pilot Storm Smith in his attempt to become the first blind pilot to fly from London to Sydney, a distance of 21,700 km.

Hilton-Barber, who has climbed Africa's Mount Kilimanjaro and run a marathon in Russia, told Australia's ABC Radio that he expected the trip to take 55 days.

The pair are following a route made famous in the 1919 air race from London to Sydney and will fly over the Middle East, Pakistan, India, Malaysia and Indonesia.