Record Flight Finally Comes To An End

Beleaguered Australian aviation adventurer Jon Johanson is finally back in New Zealand, after his record flight over the South Pole found him stranded at the joint US-New Zealand base in the Antarctica.

Johanson (above), who left Invercargill en route to Argentina December 7th, ran into serious headwinds after flying over the South Pole in his homebuilt RV4. Concerned about fuel, he landed at the McMurdo-Scott Base and instantly found himself at the center of an international dispute over his trip.

Scornful of his attempt to overfly the pole without SAR support and without enough fuel, neither New Zealand nor the US would fuel him up for the continuation of his flight once he landed at the base. Instead, Antarctica New Zealand offered him a scheduled flight to Christchurch and a chance to ship his aircraft home on a boat. Johanson said no.

Enter Polly Vacher (right), a British adventurer also attempting to circumnavigate the globe on a polar route. Just as Johanson was leaving New Zealand, she cancelled her flight, citing poor weather and uncertainties about her fuel supply. She did, however, send fuel ahead to Scott-McMurdo. With no use for the avgas, she generously donated that stash to Johanson.

Which left him free to leave, except for one thing: weather.

"Obviously we don't want him to leave until there is a good weather forecast for him, at the moment there is a nasty weather system passing underneath New Zealand which of course means it's in his tracks," spokeswoman Sue Ball said, speaking with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "So we have to wait until that's gone through before he can then come up from McMurdo."

New Zealand Foreign Minister Phil Goff and his Australian counterpart, Alexander Downer, met over the weekend to discuss the Johanson issue, among others. Downer said he was "pleased that a solution has been found to the problem. "I appreciate that the New Zealanders are prepared to facilitate the departure of Jon Johanson and his plane."

Goff welcomed Vacher's gesture, calling it an "appropriate solution."

Johanson finally beat the weather home, barely, and arrived at Invercargill Airport in the south of the South Island at about 2.55pm local time, or 1255 AEDT. "He's safely landed and he's just going through the border control checks," according to Invercargill Airport Ops Mgr Eric Forsyth.

ANN Note To Ms. Vacher: You were a hero to us before... but doubly so now. We shoulda known it would take a great aviator to come to the aid of another...

FMI: www.users.chariot.net.au