NZ and US gas Nazi’s say “No gas for you!” - Polar pilot sparks diplomatic storm
Don’t know about the Yanks, (banana envy? ), but the Kiwis are just annoyed that they didn’t get to the Rugby World Cup Finals.*
Well, not knowing the full story of said ‘daredevil’ - I can’t really stick too much blame on anyone. It sounds unfair, but perhaps they are perfectly justified witholding it from him. I don’t know the whole story. (I can’t access the news page you posted…I doubt it’s a fault in your link, my browser is being a bastard this evening.)
I only managed to glimpse through my paper this morning, and manged to get the impression (correct me if said impression is wrong) that they were refusing to sell him the fuel. If that is the case - they’re just being arsewipes. (After little Johhny let his idol Dubya borrow his army and invited him over and all!)
Giving it to him is one thing, but I can’t see any reason for them not to allow him to buy it from them. Unless they’re low themselves. But, you know, still…little help!
*Joke! (After all, we got there…and lost.)
What an idiot. He expects a bunch of scientists who are already probably on a shoestring budget (shipping ANYTHING to Antarctica is damn expensive) to bail his ass out because of his poor planning…
That’s right. According to the BBC article:
McMurdo is a US base. But it’s not like they wanted him to starve to death:
Anyway, according to the article I linked above, it looks like he’ll get his fuel from another aviator.
It sounds like this guy set off on a jaunt across Antarctic without arranging to have the supplies he needed available to him.
(what, he was going to pull into the local Amoco station as ask to have hit tank filled?)
The bases offered to give him a seat on a flight home (so they didn’t leave him stranded) but refused to sell him fuel.
In a part of the world where NOT planning things out can lead to rescue missions and/or death, it seems lilke not encouraging this
kind of behavior is a good thing.
Is anyone else getting a mental image of this guy?
“Gazaline…kachung, kachung…but not self-serve…”
“I got a recipe for snake. Delicious. Fricassee of reptile.”
He’s a minor celebrity among airplane homebuilders - he’s got an interesting story (before Antarctica, which actually sounds kind of dumb from what I’ve read).Dude’s Story
Anywhoo, someone is going to bail the asshat out.
He refused to cancel his flight even though he was warned of the constant headwinds and realised before the point of no return that he didn’t have enough fuel to go to South America.
Oh, in case anyone is wondering about his planning:
From the NZ Hearld
Poor planning on your part does not make YOUR situation an emergency on my part.
If this idjit gets bailed out by a government that would fling open the doors for idjits everywhere to do dumb stuff without proper planning, I say f*^k him and feed him fishheads!.
unclviny
The US and New Zealand bases have a strict policy of not offering bailing out adventures who have got themselves into trouble other than life saving measures. The guy knew this before he went.
The US and New Zealand bases do not have sutiable aviation fuel, although they could supply what is pretty much normal car fuel. If this fuel did not get the plane back to New Zealand and instead dumped him into the middle of the Antartic Ocean they could be held liable.
The US and New Zealand bases are not service stations. He has caused a great deal of trouble and anoyance at these bases by his presence and his refusal to acept the help offerd.
I haven’t been keeping up with this, but my first thought is that most RV’s I’m famillar with could burn higher-octane auto fuel (US premium grade) on a temporary basis without serious damage.
Then I read he’s tweaked the thing for extra fuel economy. In which case auto fuel may be a bad idea.
Fact is, even though I’m a small plane pilot and love to see folks do wonderful things with them, this guy took a big risk. I completely understand the reluctance to encourage this sort of thing in any way, shape, or form. If you call for rescue it’s a bit petty to complain about the form rescue takes. They could have just offered to fly him out - offering to ship his plane out, under the circumstances, is rather generous.
He’s NOT a “hapless adventurer”. He’s a big boy, he’s flown all over the world - he knew better than to take off into such a headwind, or to continue past the point of no return. It’s hard for me to have a lot of sympathy for someone who puts themselves into danger, ignores warnings, then wants a bail-out.
(By the way - yes, I have failed to return the airplane to home base myself, and have the dubious distinction of being choppered out of a field with me in the passenger seat. So yeah, I’ve screwed up on occassion, too. You *** up in aviation you deal with the consequences. My goof wasn’t on this scale, but I’ve been the one begging for a bail-out myself.)
A total ratbag. He was totally unprepared. His stunt was silly, arrogant, and culpable.
The New Zealanders and Americans have their policy for a reason (and it is one shared by Australia). They weren’t going to leave him there to die, just not bail him out on his terms. He should have stayed home in front of the TV.
From the article Rabid_Squirrel linked to:
Why would they want to help this guy at all, let alone for free? The only reason I can think of is that this might generate more publicity than a successful flight, but I don’t see how he deserves a free ride out of this situation…
You know, after reading a little more and sleeping on the thought, I think I’m going to crank my disapproval up a notch.
Yeah, I think this guy planned to land at an Antartic base all along. What a jerk. If he really wanted to do this there’s no reason he couldn’t have bought a stash of fuel and had it waiting for him at the station. Other folks adventuring in Antartica have done so, right?
As I said - he’s a big boy and a world traveler. He knows how to plan a flight. This isn’t a matter of running a gallon short five miles from your destination.
Sure… he’s a daredevil… he also is the sort that makes the rest of us small plane pilots look like idiots and crazy people. Jiminy Cricket, if he wanted to be first over the pole skippy for him, but he could have done it right. The folks stationed in Antartica aren’t there to wipe the noses and butts of irresponsible people getting themselves stranded in the middle of nowhere.
Fer darn sure he didn’t do this flying over the North pole, did he? Or over the Pacific or Atlantic oceans? No, he only runs short of gas over land… it’s “McMurdo base”, not “McMurdo Self-Serve Gas and Quickie Mart”.
Ship him back to New Zealand, put his airplane on a boat and send it after him, bill him for room, board, shipping fees, and every other penny he’s cost people by failing to adequately prepare for this journey.
I repeat - he knows better. He has to. You can’t take the sort of trips he’s taken without knowing the proper way to do these things.
What a jackhole.
Zero sympathy.
I’ve only heard about this story from this thread; I haven’t been watching the news recently. But it’s an aviation thread, so I have to post.
Based on what I’ve read here, I agree with Broomstick. I’ve often fantasized about flying around the world, but my fantasies always involved logistics. That is, if I were flying over the South Pole, I would make sure I had my own fuel waiting for me. I would have made prior arrangements to get my supplies positioned well before I took off. One of my fantasies has been to set a point-to-point world’s record in a piston-powered helicopter. When I thought about it I thought about planning my fuel stops, coordinating with the FAA to advise them of my record attempt (the FAA can be very accommodating if you ask nicely), contacting FBOs so that there would be a fuel truck waiting for immediate refueling upon landing, etc. This is the way I would do it.
I love it when pilots go on adventures; but I don’t much like it when pilots (who are generally responsible people – heck, even though I’m completely mental on the ground, I’m very responsible in the air!) fail to plan for their flights and, especially on a “stunt” trip, fail to provide themselves with alternate courses of action.