BBCcom_Content_Index_for_August_4_2019.txt

US pilot and influencer released from Chilean air base in Antarctica

American pilot Ethan Guo has been released from a Chilean air base in Antarctica after being detained for two months for allegedly illegally landing his plane in the country's territory.

Mr Guo,concurso 4205 quina 20, was released on Saturday. He has been ordered to pay a $30,000 (￡22,332) donation and is banned from entering Chilean territory for three years.

The young pilot and influencer is accused of having landed his plane without permission after giving officials a false flight plan as he was undertaking a solo trip to all seven continents to raise money for cancer research.

Mr Guo is doing "pretty well", his lawyer Jaime Barrientos Ramírez told the BBC's US partner CBS News.

"Of course, we do not agree with the legal process opened against him, but it has already been closed with a type of dismissal," his attorney said, as reported by CBS News.

He is expected to donate his penalty to childhood cancer research within 30 days. He must also leave the country as soon as possible.

The BBC has contacted Mr Barrientos Ramírez for comment.

Ethan Guo was 19 when he embarked on his journey to become the youngest person to fly solo to every continent, and simultaneously hoped to raise $1m (￡740,300) for cancer research through St Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis.

Having already visited six of seven continents, in June he flew his small Cessna 182Q aircraft from the city of Punta Arenas, near the southernmost point of Chile, to King George Island off the Atlantic coast.

The island is claimed by Chile and named after the UK's King George III.

Mr Guo, who is originally from Tennessee, was taken into custody after landing on the island, which is home to a number of international research stations and their staff.

Authorities said he submitted a plan to fly over Punta Arenas, but not beyond that, according to CBS News, the BBC's US partner.

He was charged on 29 June with allegedly handing false information to ground control and landing without authorisation, but these were dropped by a judge last month.

He has previously said he wants to continue with his original mission once able to leave the military base.

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