Annals of Oops–Got Fuel?: Australian adventure pilot Jon Johanson has flown around the world in two directions, and over the North Pole. This week, he bagged the South Pole as well, flying from new Zealand and becoming the first solo pilot to fly over the South Pole in a fixed wing, single-engine aircraft….with a red stripe, and an even registration number (well, not the last two, but records are getting more narrowly defined every day). All was going well except for one minor problem: headwinds slowed him up, so he didn’t have enough fuel to fly back to New Zealand or Argentina. Instead, Johanson landed at the US/New Zealand operated McMurdo Base, hoping to cadge some fuel to get home. The answer: no fuel giveaway this week…or any other week. He only needs about 90 gallons, but the eggheads at the base are playing hardball because they don’t want any other poorly organized adventurers dropping in without a plan. “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,” sniffed one of the base managers. Instead the base has offered to fly Johanson out and ship his plane later (at his expense). That’s cold (pun intended) but I’m with McMurdo on this one. Maybe Johanson can ask for a rubber band……..



Stranded at McMurdo: And it’s a very long, very cold swim…..