Posted on 12/10/2003 11:53:21 PM PST by Russian Sage
Adventurer stranded in Antarctica
The first person to fly a home-built single-engine plane over the South Pole has got stranded in Antarctica.
Australian Jon Johanson was forced to land his RV-4 plane at a US base when it ran short of fuel.
But both the Americans and a nearby New Zealand base refuse to give him the fuel, saying they do not want to encourage tourism in the Antarctic.
Mr Johanson flew over the South Pole after travelling 5,880 km in just over 24 hours from New Zealand.
The adventurer had planned to continue to Argentina, but strong headwinds ate into his fuel reserves.
This forced Mr Johanson to land on Tuesday at the US McMurdo base, just a few kilometres from New Zealand's Scott base, to ask for more fuel.
But both bases refused to provide him with the required 400 litres (104 gallons) to return to New Zealand.
"The US actually don't run a gas station in Antarctica... and nor does New Zealand," Antarctica New Zealand Chief Executive Lou Sanson told the Associated Press news agency.
"He appears to have gone in there without a search and rescue plan and without a contingency plan if things go wrong, and he's expecting the New Zealand and United States Governments to pick up and be his contingency," Mr Sanson added.
He said the Americans provided Mr Johanson with food and shelter and that New Zealanders had offered to fly him home "on the first available flight".
"And we can make arrangements to ship his plane out at his cost," Mr Sanson said.
But Mr Johanson partner, Sue Ball, said he was reluctant to leave his plane, in which he had previously flown around the world three times, including over the North Pole.
That's gotta be one of the funniest lines ~ ever. LOL
...that has to be shipped to Antarctica, via air freight, at no insignificant cost. We're not talking about popping down to the corner Exxon here - I really doubt that the $2/gallon or so he usually pays for AvGas is going to cover the expense involved. Besides which, McMurdo is a research station, not a commercial airport - they may not have the fuel to sell to him in the first place, insofar as they probably only bring in what they themselves need.
,,, I didn't look that far down.
Well I'll agree with you up to a point, shaggy.
The goobermint funded research scientists who go down there aren't in the business of supplying provisions to lunatic wayward tourists. Just the same, I've never much cared for the policy that makes Antartica a private playground for researchers only. IMHO, they oughta open up some of the continent to commercial enterprise. If somebody wants to build a tourist motel and mini-mart gas station there, they should be allowed to do so.
Sure, after the extra fuel has been requisitioned, paid for and delivered sometime in the next couple years. He'll have to pay for any food they can spare him in the meantime, and it won't be cheap.
But other countries don't recognize those claims. Instead, the continent is "governed" by an international treaty signed by 27 nations, each nation being required to pass it's own legislation compliant with the terms of the treaty. For all practical purposes, the continent is ruled by the globo-enviro-whacknuts.
,,, Willie, you should see the mess they've made of McMurdo. I think you'd re-think.
As to the ocean racers, there is the following story in the same issue:
Rower back on land and in hot water
12 December 2003
By ANN-MARIE JOHNSON
British rower Jim Shekhdar is back on land and embroiled in a row over the ownership of his boat, the Hornette.
Mr Shekhdar, 57, arrived in Wellington yesterday on the government-owned research ship Tangaroa which rescued him from the Southern Ocean three weeks ago. He was attempting to become the first person to row solo from Bluff to South Africa. He was two weeks into his journey when he phoned for help after being hurt when his 7.8-metre fibreglass boat rolled in a storm 1200 kilometres east of Bluff.
The Tangaroa, operated by the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, was diverted 350 nautical miles to pick him up. The rescue was estimated to have cost Niwa several thousand dollars. An air force Orion was also sent to act as spotter, costing about $100,000.
Niwa is now claiming ownership of the boat in an effort to recoup some costs. Under international law, it was required to rescue Mr Shekhdar, but is claiming his boat is now salvage, which it is entitled to. Mr Shekhdar argued that the boat was not salvage, as it was not abandoned and still seaworthy.
"Obviously there's a cost to do a rescue like this, but you can't squeeze blood out of a stone," he said. He was already in debt and could not get insurance cover for the journey. He met Niwa management yesterday to try and resolve the issue. No agreement was reached. He had yet to decide if he would try again to row to South Africa.
Mr Shekhdar also met Maritime Safety Authority officials yesterday. The authority had earlier threatened to use legislation to stop further rowing attempts, but director Russell Kilvington said any future proposal would be assessed on its merits.
So, it really looks like a trend - there are guys who think they were so groovy, baby that governments (i.e. taxpayers) all over the world should foot their bills.
And I really cannot see why. OK, one fancies rowing, the other flew over the Pole. So what?!
Now, if he wants to arrange for purchase and delivery of his own fuel, that would be one thing, but I suspect he's discovered just how expensive an emergency, short-notice fuel delivery is likely to be, and so he's hoping to get the government to essentially subsidize his stupidity. By way of contrast, take a look at this woman, and notice what she did differently - she arranged, on her own, for fuel dumps along her route, so that she could refuel without having to assume that someone else would bail her out of a jam. Now, if she can do that, there's no reason this other monkey couldn't have also done it, and so I really don't feel particularly sorry for the fact that he's stranded his plane for the moment - if you're going to do something potentially quite risky like fly across Antarctica, and you can't be bothered to plan for likely contingencies, you pretty much deserve whatever you get. This was an entirely foreseeable consequence, and one that he could have easily planned ahead for, but instead he decided to wing it and rely on someone else to save his butt if he got into trouble. No sympathy here, sorry.
Antarctica has become nothing more than "bragging rights" for a select kind of well-heeled tourist.
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