Jon Johanson was to have flown out of McMurdo-Scott Base in Antarctica Saturday after becoming the first pilot ever to fly an experimental single-engine aircraft over the South Pole. Now, Johanson is at the center of a controversy between Australia and its two closest allies -- New Zealand and the US. Officials from New Zealand and the United States see Johanson's attempt as a huge imposition and have refused to sell him the fuel he needs to get home. Hence, Johanson has been stranded. Johanson left Invercargill, New Zealand, December 7th on a record-setting flight to Ushuaia, Argentina in his home-built RV4. But the plan was a risky one at best. The landing at McMurdo-Scott was unplanned, according to a Johanson news release. "[H]eadwinds were much stronger than forecast. With ai

Aviation adventurer Jon Johanson should be flying back to New Zealand from the McMurdo-Scott Base in Antarctica, where he was stranded for several days after his record-breaking flight over the South Pole. Johanson was the first to fly an experimental home-built aircraft over the southernmost point on Earth, but didn't have enough fuel to buck headwinds that stood between him and his planned landing in Ushuaia, Argentina. When asked by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) how he got into this mess in the first place, Johanson replied from McMurdo-Scott, "Oh, I guess it's because I proved I'm as human as everybody else, unfortunately. We were trying to make the best decisions we could as a team and we basically left the final decision just a little bit too late and, for sa