A little over two months ago, I covered how a 19-year-old (at the time) American pilot was flying a Cessna 182 around the world to raise money for cancer research. However, he hit a snag when he flew to a part of Antarctica that Chile claims as part of its Atlantic territory.
He was detained, and accused of landing there without permission. There’s now an update, as he’s finally being released, and we’re also getting a different version of events (thanks to DENDave for flagging this).
Chile agrees to release detained American pilot
American pilot Ethan Guo has been released from a Chilean air base in Antarctica, after being detained there for over two months. He has been ordered to make a $30,000 donation, and is banned from entering Chilean territory for a period of three years. He’s expected to pay his penalty by making a donation to childhood cancer research.
While Ethan is finally allowed to leave Antarctica, his plane is still being held, so that’s going to be tricky, especially since he was leasing it for this round the world journey.
The young American was accused of landing his plane without permission, after giving officials a false flight plan. He had departed Punta Arenas Airport (PUQ), near the southernmost point of Chile, and had filed a flight plan to fly to Ushuaia (USH), even further south, in Argentina. However, according to the Chilean prosecutor, he instead conducted an unauthorized 771-mile flight to Antarctica’s Teniente R. Marsh Airport on King George Island (TNM).
Flight plan destination vs. actual destination
Ethan’s attorney claimed that this narrative wasn’t correct, and that “while already in the air, he began to experience a series of complications,” which caused him to end up in Antarctica.
That narrative sounded mighty suspicious, and my assumption was that he conducted this flight for obvious reasons (to reach his goal of flying to all seven continents), and figured this was a case where it was better to ask for forgiveness than permission. However, is there really more to the story?
Does the American pilot actually have a good explanation?
At first, I (like many others) thought the explanation by Ethan’s attorney was complete malarkey. I mean, he set off to make the short 165-mile flight to Ushuaia, and then magically ended up in Antarctica due to issues?
However, the below video provides a more detailed explanation of Ethan’s version of events.
Let me summarize them, and then you can make of this what you will:
Ethan’s plan was to fly to Ushuaia, where his team was reportedly already waiting for him, and to then fly to the Argentinian base in Antarctica
Since June is winter in the Southern Hemisphere, he left very early in the morning while it was still dark, to fly to Ushuaia, and land in the daylight
While enroute, he countered several issues — unreported icing, and his Garmin GPS went out (though he had a backup attitude indicator he could use)
Without a proper GPS, he was concerned about spatial orientation issues, especially if circling, given the mountainous terrain
So he decided to instead fly straight and level and to the south, out over the water, where both of those problems would pose less of a risk; there are limited airports in the area, and one was still closed (due to darkness), another was surrounded by a large mountain range, and others were reporting bad conditions and icing
Ethan considered his choices for an hour as he circled in the darkness, and he determined that King George Island was the best option — weather conditions were good, there were no mountains, etc.
Ethan tried to use his radio, but couldn’t get in touch with Chilean air traffic control
Thanks to having Starlink onboard, Ethan made contact with Chilean air traffic control via WhatsApp, and asked if he could land on King George Island, and was told yes, and to contact the tower there
When Ethan landed at the base, everything seemed fine, but the mood shifted after an hour, when he was told to follow authorities, and was put into detention
He spent the entire time in a research dorm, where he was given little food, didn’t have much access to the outside world, etc.; he couldn’t even go outside unless escorted, and lost 20 pounds while detained
I’m not sure what to believe here. So when he left Punta Arenas, did he really have no intention of flying to Antarctica? Or was he thinking “if I can come up with a good reason to fly to King George Island, let me do that?” To his credit, the explanation sounds sort of plausible, or at least as plausible as anything like this could be in such a situation.
Like, he’s trying to fly around the world and visit Antarctica, and whoops, how convenient that he was having issues at an exact point where he had the opportunity to fly to Antarctica. Like I said, it’s entirely possible it’s true, and it’s at least a good explanation.
He did provide the receipts of messaging authorities, and even got permission in some form. So it seems a little ridiculous for authorities to be outraged, since clearly someone approved it. Two months is a long time to spend trapped on a remote base, and I’m not sure what exactly that was supposed to accomplish? At least he gets a cool story out of the whole thing…
Bottom line
The American pilot who flew to Antarctica in late June 2025 has finally been released, after being detained for over two months. He agreed to make a $30,000 charitable donation and can’t return to Chile for three years, but is now at least three.
I’m not sure what to think here. Authorities in Chile claimed he violated rules by flying to King George Island, while he claimed he experienced a series of issues, and received permission to land there.
What do you make of this Antarctica detention and release situation?