WOB
"Obviously we dont know what is going on down there ........"
The rest of us do. Obviously you haven't been reading the reports, which may explain your post.
Extract from today's
NZ Herald
(or tomorrow's if you're in this part of the world)
Weather latest worry for pilot
15.12.2003
Australian pilot Jon Johanson was waiting for a break in the weather this morning to take off from Antarctica in his homebuilt plane for a 12-hour trip to Invercargill.
Weather forecasters in New Zealand and Australia teamed up last night to give him a clearer picture of the conditions he was concerned about, over the sub-Antarctic islands closer to New Zealand.
Mr Johanson, 47, has been stranded at McMurdo Sound since December 8 when lack of fuel forced him to abandon a flight from Invercargill to Argentina after circling the Pole.
United States and New Zealand Government officials in Antarctica refused to give him fuel, saying it was policy not to supply private expeditions.
But on Friday, British pilot Polly Vacher came to his rescue with an offer of fuel that she had stored for her own cross-polar flight.
Antarctica New Zealand chief executive Lou Sanson said New Zealanders carried the fuel from Ms Vacher's stores at Scott Base to McMurdo airbase and helped to pump it onboard Mr Johanson's plane.
Getting a weather forecast for his flight was the next problem for the Adelaide-based pilot.
New Zealand does not have forecasters in the Antarctic and relies on the United States base forecasters.
But Mr Sanson said the US had a long-standing policy of providing forecasts only for national programmes, because of "a liability issue".
Mr Johanson's plight was among issues discussed by Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff and his Australian counterpart, Alexander Downer.