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A 20-year-old American pilot who is traveling across the globe to raise money for childhood cancer research has been stuck in Antarctica for more than a month after he was accused of illegally landing there.
Ethan Guo, then 19, began his journey in Memphis, Tennessee, in September 2024 to raise $1 million for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Guo has been documenting his trip on Instagram.
In late June, his journey around the world derailed after he landed his single-engine Cessna 182Q in a remote location in Chilean territory in Antarctica.
Chilean authorities alleged that he was not authorized to land at the airport on King George Island and provided false flight plan data, a press release states. He was charged on June 29 with handing false information to ground control and landing without authorization, The Associated Press reported.
But Guo and his legal team have denied that he illegally landed on the continent, saying that he got permission via a text message on WhatsApp from a senior official with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.
In a statement, his lawyers said “due to bureaucratic confusion over flight rule permissions,” Chilean officials told Guo to circle in the dark over Tierra del Fuego in South America before continuing his flight to Ushuaia, Argentina.
“While doing so, he encountered instrument failures and heavy, unreported icing conditions caused by high cloud cover over the Andes,” his lawyers said.
The conditions created “an imminent risk of crash,” so Guo diverted over the ocean.
“Once over the ocean, he experienced engine-related issues,” they said. “Due to these cascading failures, Mr. Guo requested and received explicit, direct permission to land at the Marsh base from a high-ranking DGAC official via WhatsApp, an authorization that was subsequently confirmed by the base’s air traffic controller.”
Jaime Barrientos Ramírez, an attorney for Guo, shared a screenshot of his message to the official.
“Can I land at SCRM,” he asked, referring to the King George Island airport.
The official responded, “Yes” with a thumbs-up emoji.
On Monday, the charges against Guo were dropped as part of an agreement that he donate $30,000 to a children’s cancer foundation in Chile. Officials said he has 30 days to make the donation and is also prohibited from entering Chilean territory for three years.
In a series of posts on X, Guo said that his case had been dropped, but officials still won’t let him fly out. According to the AP, the region is experiencing harsh winter weather and there are no flights available for Guo to take to leave.
“It’s quite frankly insane,” he told “NBC Nightly News” on Wednesday. “They say I’m free, they say the plane is free, but they won’t let me leave. They won’t let me fly it out.”
Guo said his food is rationed at the Antarctic air base and his communication with the outside world is limited.
In an Instagram story, Guo wrote that his plane is “in flying condition,” but officials “won’t let me fly back.”
It’s not clear why Chilean officials won’t let Guo leave. NBC News reached out to his attorneys on Thursday for comment.
