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American Pilot Detained in Antarctica Released Under Conditions

Ethan Guo, a 20-year-old American pilot, has been released from a Chilean military base in Antarctica after being detained for two months over unauthorized landing allegations.

Source: bbc.co.uk2 min read
American Pilot Detained in Antarctica Released Under Conditions
Image via bbc.co.uk

In brief

Ethan Guo, a young American pilot and influencer, was released from a Chilean air base after two months of detention for illegally landing on King George Island during a globe-spanning flight mission. As part of his release, he is required to donate $30,000 to cancer research and faces a three-year ban from Chilean territory. Guo's journey was aimed at raising funds for childhood cancer research as he attempted to become the youngest person to fly solo to all seven continents.

American pilot Ethan Guo has been released from a Chilean air base in Antarctica after being detained for two months for allegedly illegally landing his plane in the country's territory.Mr Guo, 20, was released on Saturday. He has been ordered to pay a $30,000 (£22,332) donation and is banned from entering Chilean territory for three years.The young pilot and influencer is accused of having landed his plane without permission after giving officials a false flight plan as he was undertaking a solo trip to all seven continents to raise money for cancer research.Mr Guo is doing 'pretty well', his lawyer Jaime Barrientos Ramírez told the BBC's US partner CBS News.'Of course, we do not agree with the legal process opened against him, but it has already been closed with a type of dismissal,' his attorney said, as reported by CBS News.He is expected to donate his penalty to childhood cancer research within 30 days. He must also leave the country as soon as possible.Ethan Guo was 19 when he embarked on his journey to become the youngest person to fly solo to every continent, and simultaneously hoped to raise $1m (£740,300) for cancer research through St Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis.Having already visited six of seven continents, in June he flew his small Cessna 182Q aircraft from the city of Punta Arenas, near the southernmost point of Chile, to King George Island off the Atlantic coast.The island is claimed by Chile and named after the UK's King George III. Mr Guo, who is originally from Tennessee, was taken into custody after landing on the island, which is home to a number of international research stations and their staff.Authorities said he submitted a plan to fly over Punta Arenas, but not beyond that, according to CBS News, the BBC's US partner.He was charged on 29 June with allegedly handing false information to ground control and landing without authorization, but these were dropped by a judge last month. He has previously said he wants to continue with his original mission once able to leave the military base.

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