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Australian Pilot Stranded In Antarctica
mirio writes "Australian Jon Johanson is currently stranded in Antarctica at the US McMurdo outpost. He was attempting a flight from New Zealand to Argentina via the South Pole when he encountered a headwind that caused him to burn more fuel and divert to the base. Now both the Americans and the New Zealanders there are refusing to sell him fuel. Jon's story is amazing. He has flown his homebuilt RV-4 around the world three times and to the North Pole. You can read about his trips around the world here."
Is this standard practice for "adventurers": End up stranded somewhere through poor planning, and then expect someone else to bail him out and pay for it? Seems like it from the article. The bases did not refuse to sell him the fuel, they refused to give it to him. He could have offered to buy it, though the cost might be high - it's expensive to ship fuel to Antarctica and store it. Or he could have taken them up on their offer of a free flight home, with his plane to be shipped later.
And, of course, they're feeding and housing him for the time being.
Floating face-down in a river of regret...and thoughts of you...
At a stretch it's exploration, but science? No fricking way. So why does Slashdot think of it as such?
OK, so he's flying a kit plane - but it's not a kit plane that he designed, is it? It's one that he bought from a company that sold hundreds of them.
So I'll ask again, how is this news for nerds or stuff that matters? If I bought and assembled a kit car then drove it across the Sahara desert would that make the science section of Slashdot? On what basis?
I'm not trying to diminish Jon Johanson's achievements, I'm only trying to establish how this is remotely worthy of inclusion in this forum. No doubt that's enough to get me modded down as flamebait.
"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
Antarctica has been divided up since about the end of the 50s:
t ml
A nt arctica.htm
http://www.secretsoftheice.org/explore/treaty.h
each country has a weird pizza like slice or claim...
http://www.atlapedia.com/online/maps/political/
Fair comment. It seems every few months someone decides to sail/row/swim around the world solo.
When they arse the whole thing up they expect the Australian Navy to come and rescue them, putting a boat with 400 people off course for a week.
MEDIA RELEASE 10 DECEMBER 2003
/Scott Base unable to depart until he can get more fuel. The Australian Government is currently negotiating with relevant US/NZ authorities to assist.
Jon Johanson sets new Polar Flight record
On Monday 8 December, Australian pilot, Jon Johanson became the first pilot to fly a homebuilt, single engine aircraft over the South Pole. It is believed that he is also the first person ever to fly a fixed wing aircraft solo over the South Pole on a long distance flight.
Jon set this new world record during a non-stop flight from Invercargill, New Zealand to overfly the South Pole before landing at the joint US(McMurdo) / NZ (Scott )Base in Antarctica.
He flew his special RV-4 aircraft, call sign VH-NOJ, that he has already flown three times around the world including over the North Pole.
His aircraft was modified for this history-making flight with a specialised engine and increased fuel capacity.
The total flight distance was 3,345 nautical miles and took 26.5 hours.
The flight has taken years of planning. Jon is delighted to have made it this week, in time for the centenary of powered flight on 17 December 2003.
Jon's flight is an amazing effort, worthy of recognition in the history of aviation as a true endurance flight in an experimental aircraft. He has re-created the pioneering spirit that led to that first powered flight a 100 years ago.
Jon left his home town of Adelaide South Australia quietly on Saturday morning for a 10 hour flight to Invercargill, New Zealand.
Jon took off for his record flight on Sunday, at 5.30pm Adelaide time (8pm in New Zealand). He planned to fly direct from Invercargill to the Antarctic, over the South Pole and then to Ushuaia in Argentina.
But headwinds were much stronger than forecast. With airports few and far between in the Antarctic, Jon changed his destination to fly to McMurdo after overflying the South Pole. Jon remains at McMurdo
Last week Jon made a final test flight, setting a new class record Round Australia, flying the designated course from Adelaide via Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Townsville, Darwin, Port Hedland (fuel stop), Carnarvon, Perth and back to Adelaide. His elapsed time was 38.5 hours which included only one stop of 1.5 hours. This record breaking flight was just one of the flights in the extensive test program undertaken during the planning for the flight over the South Pole.
All the work on Jon's aircraft was done at Parafield Airport in South Australia, mostly self-funded by Jon with some help from a few key sponsors who were willing to support Jon's vision with their products and services.
Photos of Jon are available on http://users.senet.com.au/~jonj/photos.html
abc.net.au:
These a scientific bases. That is why it is science and why it is matters.
US bases are run by military forces, Russian bases are run by Arctica & Antatrcica Scientific Research Institute, but both do the same things, and both practice exchange of researches since their founding in 50th.
I don't remember however, which authority runs New Zealand base, but I think it is not Army.
I'd hardly consider US military base an accomodation where Russian researcher can work for monthes in the middle of Cold War.
The military bases in Antartica are primarily used for research (weather, marine biology, etc). The reason you don't see commercial interest there is because... well..., there is just no commercial interest in Antartica. The military conducts a lot of necessary research that companies refuse to shell out money for because there is no commercial interest (i.e. profit). I'm not really sure why everyone always thinks that the military is an conspiratory, malignant force.
They want to discourage tourism because it's dangerous; the cold and high winds could easily kill a stranded visitor. They don't want to continuously bail out people who go there just for tourism's sake. That would put a huge dent in their (probably meager) budget, and put their own people at risk. Why do people constantly wish to rebel, even at the sake of their own (or others) health?
According to local NZ news, he was warned that he did not have enough fuel to make it to Argentina before he left, and that fuel was NOT available in Antartica. IMO NZ miltary and search and rescue spend way too much of taxpayers money rescueing idiots who try to cross the vast distances around us with few or no backups.
Like a guy that has just been rescued for the second time trying to row to Argentina. His boat has now been confiscated by the police to try to recover some of the rescue costs.
Governments (especially the US) have made an art out of screwing many capable people whos detailed antarctic plans have hit some unlikely snag, despite there best intent. It is likely this guy arranged nothing in advance with McMurdo frankly because he knew by reputation what there response would be. Adventure Network International fly planes into antartica for climbing expeditions and they have been fighting against these attitudes since day 1. They have to bring in everything themselves including return trip fuel. They normally refuel at a BAS base where they have shipped fuel to in advance. Check out the history of Giles Kershaw if you want evidence that even the very best antarctic pilot faces random chances and poor odds.
At least this guy hasn;t been forcably 'rescued' so far against his will, that has been the fate of some of his predecessors.
Actually, this would be a bargain. AVGas occasionally sells for as much as $12 per US gallon at places (airports) like Narssarssuaq in Greenland which do a brisk business with transatlantic aircraft ferry pilots.
even if his RV4 is set up to use MoGas (I suspect it is - it's unlikely that mcmurdo would have AvGas on hand to sell), $10/gallon in antarctica strikes me as not a bad deal.
There seems to be an attitide that Antartica is reserved for science. It is tax-payer funded science and tourists are not allowed apart from the ocassional cruise ship and the people just step ashore for short periods.
Sorry, that isn't on any more. Controlled access is the answer but that would mess with too many treaties. So-called eco-tourism is working elsewhere and helps to fund the locals, the same could be done for Antartica and the cost of transporting supplies and removing rubbish to and from the bases can be subsidised by tourists.
See my journal, I write things there
They probably need the fuel - that's why they have it in the first place. There are no petrol stations on antarctica - all fuel and supplies have to be shipped from civilisation at high cost, and this must be planned for in advance. He should have been carrying a contingency supply of fuel, or should have arranged to have more shipped to the base just in case.
If I seem short sighted, it is because I stand on the shoulders of midgets
As a New Zealander I have always regarded Aust. as our West Island.
Just like the Americans secretly want to invade Canada, we would like to take over Austrailia.
We have already begun by acquiring all their major breweries.. We have also tried to bankrupt the Aussie people by flooding them with unemployable layabouts. We managed to plant Rusell Crowe in the modst of their unsuspecting masses!
Why do you think Weta Digital needs all those PCs and the appearance of the 'civilan' missle maker..
From here: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/12/11/10710862 02326.html
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"Sanson said he understood Johanson struck very high head winds soon after leaving Invercargill, on the southern tip of the south island.
"We believe it would have been wiser to turn around when he got into difficulties," he said.
Sanson said Antarctica New Zealand, the national scientific research program, could not provide the 47-year-old with fuel anyway because it did not have aviation gas, and the petrol it had was not of aviation quality.
"It's very unclear that at McMurdo or Scott base we have the fuel he needs," he said.
"We've done all we possibly can in terms of the resources we have."
Sanson said Johanson's expedition seemed "very ill planned", adding the adventurer had no search and rescue back up or contingency plans and only had a two-hour fuel margin for a 33-hour flight in his flight plan."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1008265.h
New Zealand's side of the story:
"Antarctica New Zealand spokeswoman Shelly Peebles said American and New Zealand authorities were being painted in a bad light but Mr Johanson had taken a very irresponsible approach.
She said he filed a flight plan just before he left but kept his South Pole flight plan a secret because he knew both American and New Zealand authorities would have stopped it.
"All our research points to the fact that this guy had one mission in mind and that was to fly over the South Pole," she said.
"He abdicated complete personal responsibility for any kind of contingency plan or consideration of how he was going to get back with limited fuel.""
The other side of the story:
Mr Johanson says he spent months studying weather patterns in the Antarctic before he left, including "a lot of time talking with Australia's top Antarctic weather forecaster".
"Any suggestion that this was a flight on a whim is far from accurate," he said. "Weather is only one very small segment of the whole flight, but it can happen to any flight anywhere in the world that things just don't work out as forecast.
"Weather can't be an exacting science. You can't blame the weathermen. I guess, technically, we should have made the decision earlier, and that was where the mistake was made."
It seems like he is insisting on the fuel rather than the flight out because it will be waaaaaay more expensive to take the flight out and have the plane shipped to him.
Just found an old article from The Times magazine (dead tree version) on Antarctic expedition.
Apparently there are actually specialised fuel operators servicing the Antarctic and in 2002, the fuel was being delivered at $11/gallon. (Only 2x the UK forecourt price.)
However, I've just been reading in serveral places on the web that the fuel price has tripled since last year, placing it at $33/gallon!
I would suggest that a reasonable 'idiot' tax would be $100(US) per gallon and he might think twice about trying again.
If it was up to me, I'd say, you pay $3000/gallon and you can fly your plane home. If not, we'll take it apart and ship it back to you for $3000 all-in before the end of the season.
It may also be the case that they dont have excess fuel to sell.
Ripping an new rectum in the fabric of spacetime.
from memory...
The US do not recognise any other countries claim to Antarctica in typical US gov' 'talk to hand' style.
Whilst they would be one of the few countries that could actually defend the place (about the only way to truly claim a piece of land as territory), there is little economic or tactical reason to do so. Once someone perfects the technology to extract oil from below the ice, this will no doubt change.
Personally, I think the place should just be locked up as some sort of international wildlife park.
How about this... rememeber the 'liberation of Iraq'? rememeber the Australian government sticking their necks out to help out? Does anybody in NZ rememeber the Anzac tradition of helping each other out?
Just sell this guy some fuel and sent him on his way.
I'm a little pissed at the attitude considering how many people the Royal Australian Navy pulls out of the southern ocean in massively expensive rescue operations.
Look the attitude of the American's is completely fair - more than that, the Australian and the New Zealand government are not complaining. The guy is a moron and he got what he has deserved.
The guy had no real contingency plan - he decided to fly over and if he couldn't make it he thought he would drop in on the yanks... I have heard he was only carrying slightly more fuel than necessary for his trip, and didn't notify the American's that they were his backup plan.
In contrast, there is a female aviator who is planning on doing a similar leg, and she has over the last few months been preparing her flight by making fuel dumps along the way. Many other people who have done similar trips have been entirely self-sufficient, and have provided contingency plans for themselves.
This idiot decided to just make the flight, and he did nothing to ensure his success or provide for failure. He deserves what he is getting (actually he is geting more than he deserves) - which as other people have already pointed out is food and accomodation, along with provisions to get he and his plane back home.
I have read comments here stating that the reason for not refueling him is to discourage tourism - I think it is actually to discourage people relying on the base as a backup. They don't want to be seen as a contingency plan for anyone, and I think that is fair enough.
There are more than enough responsible adventurers out there, we don't need to pander to the lazy ones.
It included the following paragraph:
But, of course, saying, "They didn't sell him fuel because they didn't have any," is not as "newsworthy" as saying, "Those heartless bastards refused to help him out."There is a bit of a difference between having an accident in an C-130 hardened for arctic flying and equipped with state of the art surival kits and satilite rescue beacons while flying in the S-Arctic and having an accident while flying something you built in your garage in the S-Arctic. The N-Atlantic, just for example, is full of the bones of people who got the yen to cross an ocean that sports some of the worst weather on the planet in a small Cessna or a small costal sporting yacht and please note that the North Atlantic has a relatively good network of SAR assets and well equpped surface rescue forces and good radar cover. It does not surprise me that the countries that maintain a presence in the S-Arctic are very reluctant to see this kind of thing become popular because rescue assets are not available in the region in nubers even remotely adequate to deal with any sizable influx of daredevil adventurers. The plain fact is that there are alot more people with pilots licenses that have more money than sense, this guy is one of them, and he is bloody lucky to be alive this could easily have ended very differently. The real question here is when do people become culpable for getting them selves in deep trouble even though they should have known better. And this applies especially when rescue workers get killed needlessly while trying to pull these fools out of the shit. It did not happen this time but it does all to often. There is a point when the excuse "Well doooh! He was just trying to have a little fun." begins to wear thin.
Only to idiots, are orders laws.
-- Henning von Tresckow
(I think that an RV-4 kit would be pushing $15,000 US, but probably much more outfitted like his must be)
I think the RV-4 kit is around $14,000 US, but then after you add a decent engine, avionics, etc., it can be pushing $50,000-$60,000 US. I was reading some stuff on Johanson's plane and he's done modifications beyond what the normal kit builder would so he can make 2,000+ miles without refueling. I wouldn't be surprised if he's spent into six digits all together for his plane.
My other SIG is a 9mm.
Having been to Ross Island, both at Scott Base and McMurdo Station many times over the years, I can tell you straight up that you aren't seeing the whole truth here from the media reports.. 1.) First off, the RV-4 runs 100+ octane low lead AVGAS. Neither the Kiwi's or the Americans have any need for 100LL. Everythings run on Deisel or JP-5. There are no piston powered airplanes on Ross Island. There are trucks and tractors that may run regular gas, but at sub-freezing temps, I wouldn't try it in an airplane. Therefore, give or sell, there's no fuel down there for this guy. 2.) If he's to arrange for cargo shipment off the island of his plane, he'd better do so in a hurry. It's fast coming upon the time for Mac-Town to close down for the winter. He's going to have to coordinate with the National Science Foundation, which is the organization that arranges for the U.S. Coast Guard to break a channel into the fast-ice around Ross Island each year. More often than not, the cargo ships that enter the Ross Sea need to be escorted to the ice pier at McMurdo Station by an Icebreaker. It's bound to be a pricey proposition either way. The dude had to have lost his noodle flying that little kite over Antarctica during this time of year. Neither the Americans or the Kiwis should be forced to deal with this guy. I wonder if he's aware of the multitude of international treaties that he's subject to once he crosses south of 60 degrees....
So the priorities for the available, limited amount of fuel are:
So, if priority #2 has spoken for all of the available fuel above the reserve level, then the adventurer is crap outta luck.
If he wants to arrange his own fuel shipment, outside of the normal supply chain, more power to him. Just don't expect the base personnel to completely disrupt their lives and research to make his (saved) life easier.
The armed forces are there with the scientists. From what my co-worker told me (he was stationed there in the US Navy) is that the scientists at the bases hate everyone and everything there that is not a fellow scientist. The main reason the military is tolerated is because they do the upkeep on the bases and are a convenient when a rescue/evacuation is needed. The scientists have a big say on what goes on there.
There's a high degree of elitism and snobbishness on the part of the scientists, and from what he told me, this doesn't surprise me at all.
I'd recommend the pilot just bundle up and walk out to the local wildlife and start petting them (they have no fear of humans) or giving them food handouts (especially the large seagulls). That might piss off the scientists enough to give him the fuel just to be rid of him.
I tried every decent and legal way I could think of to resolve the issue w/the business before I rented the chicken suit
U.S. Research Stations in Antarctica are not run by the military. They are funded by the National Science Foundation. The Military does the flying because they have the expertise and the equipment. They do so under contract to the NSF.
The Navy detachments that once ran the research stations (NSFA) and exclusively did the flying (VXE6) were disestablished several years ago, but they hadn't been exclusive for years before that.
When I was first at McMurdo in 1995, NSFA ran the hospital, the air traffic control tower, weather and an electronics shop. They had already ceded the cooking, firefighting and other activities to the civilian contractors in previous years.
These days, the only military presence on the Ice is the New York Air National Guard (NYANG) who flies the LC-130s, (I think) regular Air Force who fly C-17s and C-141s, and an occasional Navy person at the McMurdo radio station (still military-affiliated).
The overwhelming majority of us down here are civilians.
From what I've heard from someone else who's there, though not the most reliable source, they didn't even give him a fuel shed. He's actually sleeping in a tent next to his plane. Who knows what the real story is (almost certainly not the press).
One thing about the plane that I don't think has been mentioned yet is that he has to get it off the ice runway soon, because at sometime in December (not sure exactly when), the temporary ice runway starts to break up and they move air operations to Williams Field on the permanent ice shelf.
Unlike most everyone else here, I know a little about this. I was involved with the United States Antarctic Program (USAP) for about 10 years and I've been to the South Pole 4 times.
The policy of the USAP is not to support private travel in the Antarctic. Period. They will perform SAR activities and help you return to your place of origin. This is the policy. It was set by the National Science Foundation in Washington DC (more or less, the USAP offices are in Ballston now).
As far as this guy goes, he's not being treated any differently than the Gore-tex Trans-Antarctic expedition was, or the outfits running adventure travel packages to the South Pole are. The USAP will only intervene to prevent loss of life. If you don't like it write your congressman.
This guy claims to know what he's doing but that doesn't appear to be the case to me. There is a concept in flying called the Point of Safe Return (PSR). Your PSR is determined by your actual range which depends on your fuel load and effective groundspeed. It appears to me that either this guy didn't know what his PSR was or chose to ignore it (remember his goal was not McMurdo, South Pole or even Palmer Station, but Puntas Arenas, Chile). As far as the conditions go, that part of the world is known for bad weather (understatement). Its not uncommon for the USAP LC-130s to reach their PSR and have to turn back. Even given WX updates from McMurdo and Christchurch, things can get dicey. I was on a return flight from MCM to CHC one time when we had to land in Invercargill due to severe unpredicted headwinds.
Its hard to say what the actual fuel situation is at MCM. Most equipment there runs on DFA or JP4. There is some MoGas for pickup trucks and snowmobiles. So there is a multi-year supply of those fuels on hand. AvGas, on the other hand is only used to support light plane ops and the supply of that would be based on year to year science program requirements.
The adventure travel outfits seem to be able to support light plane ops in antarctica without depending the USAP to bail them out so I don't see any reason why this guy couldn't have done the same. It sounds to me like he's been offered a fair deal: a ride home on the next return flight and a ride for his plane when the re-supply ship sails for NZ.
Be surprised, then.
Piston airplanes run on 100LL (100 octane low-lead). The U.S. Antarctic Program and the N.Z. Antarctic Programme do _not_ operate piston planes. They operate Bell Ranger (Huey) helicopers, LC-130s, C-141s, C-5s, C-17s, a fleet of Caterpillar Tractors and other heavy equipment. They run on a variety of heavy fuels like kerosene/diesel (JP-8/AN-8/etc). There are some gasoline-powered light trucks and vans for summer use. They use a formulation the military calls "Mogas" (motor-vehicle gasoline). It's nowhere near 100 octane. Airplanes don't refuel at the corner Shell station for a reason. It's the wrong stuff for the engine.
It's just not there to sell him. Other adventurers make arrangements for fuel caches. He did not. He failed to plan. I say this as a licensed pilot and a four-season Antarctic veteran.
I took pictures of him when he flew over the Pole. As a pilot, I even thought to myself - what a load of fun that would be to do. I was surprised to find that he hadn't made prior arrangements.
McMurdo and Pole currently receive one refuling ship per year, in late January or early February (when the ice is the thinnest, and shortly after the Icebreaker has cut a channel).
The U.S. Antarctic Program is evaluating alternate energy sources to get our fuel resupply to every other year.
It's precious and it's expensive here.
>The US actually don't run a gas station in Antarctica...
Think that says it all. I wouldn't want to set that precedent either.
Not like they're making him sleep out in his plane and eat shoe leather or anything.
There is much cruelty in the universe, John.
Yeah, we seem to have the tour map.
> The article said that they would be shipping him out on a flight, so if a flight can get in, bringing a few jerricans would be a good idea and charging him for support costs is more than fair.
More than fair? You're right, it would be. Much more. The planes that fly into McMurdo go in fully loaded. They fly out nearly empty. Taking him out is just a matter of his getting on the plane. Taking his plane out in crates is just the extra effort to load it on the nearly-empty plane. Taking in "a few jerricans" (which is in fact two 55-gallon drums) means that the fully loaded plane going in needs to take on an extra quarter ton or so, at the expense of the other supplies that would have fit in that weight limit. In the extreme, it might even mean another flight needs to go in. So, it would indeed be far more than fair.
Virg
That's what was going on when this bozo landed.