Ethan Guo, an American pilot and social media influencer who has been stranded in Antarctica for several weeks, has insisted on Wednesday that he is “innocent” regarding the accusations leveled against him. Guo faced charges from Chilean authorities for allegedly submitting a false flight plan to reach Antarctica.
The charges filed against Guo on June 29 involved giving false information to ground control and landing without permission. However, on Monday, these charges were dismissed by a judge following an agreement between his legal team and Chilean prosecutors. The terms of this agreement state that the young pilot must donate $30,000 to a children’s cancer foundation within 30 days to avoid going to trial. Additionally, Guo is required to leave Chile as soon as he can safely do so and is barred from returning to the country for the next three years.
Guo’s defense team argued that he had obtained the necessary permissions to alter his original flight path—which was meant to go from Punta Arenas in southern Chile to Ushuaia, Argentina—and land at the Teniente Marsh base in Chilean Antarctica due to “weather and technical circumstances.”
Jaime Barrientos, Guo’s attorney, stated in court documents shared with the Associated Press that his client’s actions were justified under a presumption of legality because of the explicit permissions granted by several officials from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGAC).
Evidence was submitted by Barrientos indicating that “Mr. Guo notified the DGAC at the earliest opportunity regarding the change to his filed flight plan and received specific authorization to land at the specified airfield.”
During his time in Antarctica, Guo turned 20 years old in July and has consistently maintained his innocence. In a statement to AP, he claimed that during his original trip, he “faced instrument failures and severe, unreported icing conditions,” which posed “an imminent risk of a crash.”
“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,” it said.
The influencer added that the court’s ruling last Monday was “a direct result of the prosecutor’s refusal to acknowledge this clear evidence.”
The prosecutor’s office has maintained in several interviews with local media that Guo has handed “ false information” to the respective authority and, by doing so, put at risk “the safety of global air traffic.”
“What the background indicates is that he always had the will and the knowledge that he wanted to reach Antarctica at all costs, putting at risk not only his life, but also the safety of global air traffic,” prosecutor Cristián Crisosto told local Radio Bio Bio in an interview Wednesday.
Guo made headlines last year when he began a trip in an attempt to become the youngest person to fly solo to all seven continents and at the same time collect donations for research into childhood cancer.
But for the past six weeks, he has stayed at the Chilean Air Force base where he landed in June. He was not forced to stay there, only to remain in Chilean territory, but because of the severe winter in that part of the southern hemisphere, no flights were available. He has also been unable to fly his small plane, whose future remains uncertain.
Crisosto said that the plane would probably have difficulty leaving Antarctica because it does not meet the necessary regulations.
“That plane could leave Antarctica in pieces. But I don’t see it flying,” he warned.
