American teenage pilot meets with consequences of own actions

Katamarino

Katamarino

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It looks like one of these "Look at me, I'm a teen pilot!" individuals has made a poor decision, taking off from Punta Arenas, deviating from his flight plan, and heading to Antarctica instead. He has now been detained, and it seems not allowed to fly back.

Could get expensive if billed for the search etc. I must admit my first thoughts were "What a knob". This can only make life harder for those who try to do this kind of adventure legitimately.

Link to Reddit thread

This Sunday, the formal arrest of the American citizen who was detained on Saturday after landing in Chilean Antarctica without prior authorization was finalized.

The defendant, identified as Ethan Guo, was arrested on Saturday and brought before the court to be formally charged with crimes punishable under Articles 194 and 197 of the Aeronautical Code.

According to Cristián Crisosto, the regional prosecutor for Magallanes and Chilean Antarctica, the suspect, during the early morning of June 28, piloted his Cessna 182Q aircraft, registration N182WT, reporting that he would take off from Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Airport in Punta Arenas and fly over the area.

However, the information provided to the aeronautical authority was false. “He submitted a flight plan indicating he was going to fly over the city of Punta Arenas. However, he continued on his way to Antarctica without any prior notice or authorization, landing at Teniente Marsh Airfield, in Chilean Antarctic territory.”

“With this conduct, the defendant seriously endangered the safety of air traffic to Antarctica and the Magallanes Region, which is why he was charged,” the prosecutor added.

At the hearing, precautionary measures of national detention and monthly signature were ordered. Ninety days were established for the investigation to be conducted.

Prosecutor Cristián Crisosto alleged that “not only did the defendant, with his conduct, violate the Aeronautical Code, but also multiple national and international regulations regarding the route to Antarctica and access to the white continent.”

"It is worth highlighting the impeccable and professional work of the Chilean Navy in receiving this defendant in Antarctica and ensuring, at all times, all the guarantees of the criminal process for him and all those involved," he concluded.

According to La Tercera, the defendant will remain free. However, he must comply with the monthly check-in in Antarctica until he has authorization to leave the Antarctic continent and can find a good weather window to arrange his return flight to Punta Arenas.

Furthermore, it was also specified that upon leaving Antarctica, he must establish a domicile in the Magallanes Region to continue complying with the precautionary measure. Despite this, the possibility of a hearing for July 11, at 8:00 a.m., is being considered to find an alternative solution to the case.
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Wow. Reading more about this online, it looks like he was a "social media influencer". Apparently he intended to land on all 7 continents and raise some money for charity along the way. If you're gonna do that, you gotta set a good example and follow the law.
 
Holy cow. Big brass ones. 700 miles over water in a single engine aircraft, in the most inhospitable climate on earth. Ditching would be certain death.

I can't even work up the nerve to fly 50 miles to the Bahamas.
 
“Monthly check-in…until he has authorization to leave the Antarctic continent” sounds like it’ll be a long visit.
 
Ed Haywood said:
Holy cow. Big brass ones. 700 miles over water in a single engine aircraft, in the most inhospitable climate on earth. Ditching would be certain death.

I can't even work up the nerve to fly 50 miles to the Bahamas.
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Can't work up the nerve to go across lake Michigan. Glad it's not just me
 
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Ed Haywood said:
Holy cow. Big brass ones. 700 miles over water in a single engine aircraft, in the most inhospitable climate on earth. Ditching would be certain death.

I can't even work up the nerve to fly 50 miles to the Bahamas.
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Bravery? Ignorance? Foolishness? All three?

- commenting from the comfort of my easy chair 1,500 miles from the ocean.
 
Ed Haywood said:
Holy cow. Big brass ones. 700 miles over water in a single engine aircraft, in the most inhospitable climate on earth. Ditching would be certain death.

I can't even work up the nerve to fly 50 miles to the Bahamas.
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I don't think there is any bravery involved, just plain ignorance and invincibility of youth.
 
Omg, I recognized the tail number, that’s Ethan Guo, says he’s flying around the world to all 7 continents to raise money for St Jude’s.
 
Young and dumb and full of ... Something.
 
Has some aviation accomplishments, a couple of transoceanic crossings.
How many if us can claim that?
Hate to see the good foreshadowed by some bad decision-making
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Has some aviation accomplishments, a couple of transoceanic crossings.
How many if us can claim that?
Hate to see the good foreshadowed by some bad decision-making
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Unfortunately that decision making possibly also included a request for permission and denial for the trip to Antarctica.
 
Sam D said:
With the fig leaf of charity...
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To be fair, I raised money for charity on my RtW - as I was going anyway I figured it was a chance to do some good. I made a point that 100% of donations went to the charity, and the cost of the trip was 100% from my own pocket. This guy may well be doing the same, I have no idea.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Has some aviation accomplishments, a couple of transoceanic crossings.
How many if us can claim that?
Hate to see the good foreshadowed by some bad decision-making
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How many of his other accomplishments were merely the result of luck concealing other has decision making?
 
Flying across the Drake Passage in a single engine piston spamcan? That's a new one. For his next trick, maybe he'll take a row boat across the Bering Sea in December. ... Charity goals aside, I suspect the guy has a death wish.
 
Ok, bravery or youthful foolishness not withstanding. How in the hell is landing at a desolate field on Antarctica "seriously endangering the safety of air traffic to Antarctica and the Magallanes Region"
 
Salty said:
How in the hell is landing at a desolate field on Antarctica "seriously endangering the safety of air traffic to Antarctica and the Magallanes Region"
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Given how small antarctica is, and the excessive aircraft congestion they have there, I can see it being an issue. /s.

Aside from maybe taking out a curious emperor penguin standing on the runway, I'm not sure who you're endangering... And maybe the guys who have to dispatch to come and get you before you freeze to death.
 
Salty said:
Ok, bravery or youthful foolishness not withstanding. How in the hell is landing at a desolate field on Antarctica "seriously endangering the safety of air traffic to Antarctica and the Magallanes Region"
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Maybe partly lost in translation, but having looked into operating that area, I have a few thoughts.

- The British bases, and probably others, have a rule that when one aircraft is inbound past the "point of no return", no other aircraft may operate; this is to avoid the chance of an aircraft ending up disabled and blocking a runway, with another inbound with nowhere else to go.
- Secondly, this guy just went "off the radar", so no IFR separation if any other traffic is around, and they also apparently sent out search and rescue assets who of course were then exposed to risk.

Admittedly the risks to other traffic are very minimal, but they do exist.
 
Katamarino can advise on the difficulty and expense of obtaining fuel for the return trip. Do any of the local aircraft burn gasoline?

Finding lodging is a challenge down there, and a tent is generally inadequate in the "off season".
 
geezer said:
Katamarino can advise on the difficulty and expense of obtaining fuel for the return trip. Do any of the local aircraft burn gasoline?
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Assuming his 182 is set up like mine, you could carry enough fuel to get there and back quite comfortably. In terms of distance it's not that much more than the flight to Bermuda I did, where there is also no Avgas. Better beaches though.
 
Katamarino said:
Assuming his 182 is set up like mine, you could carry enough fuel to get there and back quite comfortably. In terms of distance it's not that much more than the flight to Bermuda I did, where there is also no Avgas. Better beaches though.
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Better beaches than Bermuda? ;)
 
Ed Haywood said:
Holy cow. Big brass ones. 700 miles over water in a single engine aircraft, in the most inhospitable climate on earth. Ditching would be certain death.

I can't even work up the nerve to fly 50 miles to the Bahamas.
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Big nope from me
 
MRC01 said:
Wow. Reading more about this online, it looks like he was a "social media influencer".
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It might be just me, but when I read that someone is a 'social media influencer', I mentally deduct about 40 IQ points from wherever they started before becoming an 'influencer'.
 
Ed Haywood said:
Holy cow. Big brass ones. 700 miles over water in a single engine aircraft, in the most inhospitable climate on earth. Ditching would be certain death.

I can't even work up the nerve to fly 50 miles to the Bahamas.
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that's because you have the wisdom that comes with age, and your not a teenage social influencer (which means dumb kid that has no job and can con other kids into thinking what he/she does is cool)
 
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Good for him. Where do I donate to his legal defense fund?
 
Ed Haywood said:
Holy cow. Big brass ones. 700 miles over water in a single engine aircraft, in the most inhospitable climate on earth. Ditching would be certain death.

I can't even work up the nerve to fly 50 miles to the Bahamas.
Click to expand...
Combination of bravery and youthful optimism :). In my youth, I spent 6-7 hours a day, off a remote Alaska coast, in a Bellanca Scout, at 300-500 ft. altitude, spotting salmon or herring for a fleet of boats. The Scout was on floats but 90% of the time, sea conditions would not have allowed an intact landing. I wore a survival suit up to my waist and draped the top half over my seat back. My plan was, if I needed to ditch, I would quickly stick my arms in and zip it up... and egress, hopefully, after the crash.

It was a fun summer job (for 15 summers) but I wouldn't think of doing it now. And it is in no way comparable to flying to Antarctica in a 182.
 
Running a 5K to support a hospital? Noble. But this? This is an adventure masquerading as charity, and getting other people to pay for your adventure. I always wanted to fly a Cub coast to coast. Any takers to fund it? We’ll slap a “raising money for the homeless” label on it and call it a cause.
 
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