An American teenager was arrested on an Antarctic Island while trying to pilot his small plane for each continent, said the Chilean authorities, who charged him for allegedly submitted a false flight plan.
Ethan Guo, 19, acquired an online audience by documenting his journey around the world, which lasted much more than 100 days and had already taken it to six continents before the Antarctic trip, according to its website And social networks publications.
Guo said he hoped to become the first pilot to finish a solo flight on the seven continents in a small cessna, a feat that simultaneously aims to raise $ 1 million for cancer research through the research hospital for St. Jude. On his site, the adolescent cites the diagnosis of cancer of his cousin in 2021 as a source of inspiration.
Guo’s latest Instagram articles have chronicle a part of his way on Southeast Asia. But the authorities of South America say that he continued to cross the Pacific Ocean, finding themselves in Chile before heading to Antarctica.
Jorge Saenz / AP
According to In Cristian Cristoso Rifo, the regional prosecutor of Magallanes and Chilean Antarctica, Guo left the airport in the city of Punta Arenas, near the southern point of Chile, and proceeded to an unauthorized flight to King George Island. Located off the Atlantic coast, the island is claimed by Chile as part of its Atlantic territory.
The young driver won his plane at R. Marsh Teniente Airport on the island, where he was detained, Cristoso said in a shared video press release on social networks on Monday. The prosecutor’s office charged Guo for having violated two articles of the Chilean aeronautical code, one of which calls for a short -term imprisonment sentence or a fined fines to anyone who landed in Chilean territory without legitimate authorization. According to Cristoso, Guo submitted a flight plan which indicated his plans to fly over Punta Arenas, but no further than that.
The prosecutor said that in addition to his alleged violations of the aeronautical code, Guo had violated the “national and international multiple” rules governing access to Antarctica and the roads taken to get there. Its unauthorized flight has also laid security risks for air traffic to the frozen continent, added Cristoso.
CBS News contacted Guo to comment.