Arrested Pilot Influencer Still Stuck in Antarctica After Trespassing

American teen’s lawyers and prosecutors have made an agreement to drop charges.

Caleb Revill

Wednesday, August 13, 2025 at 07:00 AM ET

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Edited By:

Ryan Ewing

Cessna 172 [FLYING Archive]

Key Takeaways:

U.S. pilot Ethan Guo, 19, was detained for over a month in Antarctica by Chilean authorities after being arrested for allegedly altering his flight plans during a solo round-the-world charity trip.
Guo remained stranded at a military base due to hazardous weather conditions preventing his transport back to Chile and his plane's inability to make the flight.
Charges against him were dropped following an agreement requiring him to donate $30,000 to a children's cancer foundation, leave Chile once safe, and be banned from reentering the country for three years.

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Over a month after his arrest, 19-year-old U.S. pilot and social media influencer Ethan Guo is still being detained in Antarctica by Chilean authorities.

Guo was arrested after landing on the Chilean Antarctic territory of King George Island on June 29. The government’s prosecutors allege he altered his previously approved flight plans and strayed off course toward Antarctica following his takeoff from Carlos Ibanez del Campo Airport (SCCI) in Punta Arenas, Chile, that day.