US pilot Ethan Guo donates $30,000 to children's foundation after Antarctica plane landing

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — American pilot and influencer Ethan Guo, who was stuck more than two months at a Chilean air base in Antarctica, made a $30,000 donation Tuesday to a children’s cancer foundation under an agreement with local authorities to avoid trial after landing on the white continent in June.

Guo had been charged June 29 with providing false information to ground control and landing without authorization a day earlier at the air base, but a judge in August dropped the charges as part of an agreement with his lawyers and Chilean prosecutors.

The agreement called for the pilot to make the $30,000 donation as soon as conditions allow and then leave the country within 30 days of completing the donation. Guo also was prohibited from reentering Chilean territory for three years under the terms of the agreement.

Guo, who was 19 years old when he began his fundraising mission for cancer research, was attempting to become the youngest person to fly solo to all seven continents.

But he was briefly detained after landing because Chilean authorities said he lied to officials by providing authorities with “false flight plan data.” Prosecutors said he had been authorized to only fly over Punta Arenas in southern Chile, but that he kept going south, heading for Antarctica in his single-engine Cessna 182Q.

Authorities said that they authorized him to land in a Chilean air base in Antarctica only because he had reported an emergency.

“We are satisfied with the ‘alternative solution’ we have achieved,” Guo’s lawyer, Jaime Barrientos, told reporters Tuesday in Santiago. The donation, he added, is part of a set of conditions that allowed for “the immediate closure of the case once approved by the judge.”

The influencer, now 20, has denied any wrongdoing.

According to Guo’s lawyer, the teen pilot was granted authorization to deviation from his initial route from Punta Arenas, southern Chile, to Ushuaia, Argentina — and land at a Chilean air base in Antarctica due to “weather and technical circumstances.”

After landing, the influencer was briefly detained and then released. Though not barred from leaving Antarctica, he was told to remain in Chilean territory.

Guo, however, had to remain at the remote Chilean military base until just days ago for lack of any commercial flights serving Antarctica. He finally managed to return to continental territory last weekend aboard a Chilean navy icebreaker, disembarking Saturday at Punta Arenas.

Guo's plane will remain in Antarctic territory until an agreement is reached for a Chilean pilot to fly it, according to his lawyer.

The influencer said Tuesday he remains committed to his fundraising mission for cancer research. The war against cancer is “a continuous battle that we all have to put our efforts into. And I’m just trying my best to do what I can to help," Guo told reporters in Santiago.

Regarding his more than 60 days in Antarctica, he acknowledged that it was a “pretty hard" period.

“It definitely was a challenge but I think with every challenge there is an opportunity to learn," he said.

U.S. influencer Ethan Guo waits for the start of an event about his donation to children's cancer rehabilitation programs, at the "Fundacion Nuestros Hijos" headquarters in Santiago, Chile, Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

U.S. influencer Ethan Guo, right, stands with Marcela Zubieta, director of "Fundacion Nuestros Hijos" at an event about his donation to children's cancer rehabilitation programs in Santiago, Chile, Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

U.S. influencer Ethan Guo, left, talks with his lawyer Jaime Barrientos prior to an event for his donation to children's cancer rehabilitation programs in Santiago, Chile, Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

U.S. influencer Ethan Guo speaks with journalists at an event about his donation to children's cancer rehabilitation programs, at the "Fundacion Nuestros Hijos" headquarters in Santiago, Chile, Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

Snowboarder Chloe Kim says she's “good to go” for the Milan Cortina Olympics despite tearing the labrum in her shoulder during a training run last week in Switzerland.

Now comes a race against the clock to see if she can get ready for a contest that starts in less than a month.

The winner of the last two Olympic gold medals in the halfpipe posted an update to Instagram on Tuesday, saying she wasn't surprised to learn she had torn her labrum — the lining of the socket that holds the shoulder together. She did not say which shoulder she injured when she fell while getting ready for this weekend's Laax Open.

“There are two ways to do it, and the way I did it is less severe than the other, so I'm really happy about that,” she said. “Obviously, I’m really disappointed that I can’t snowboard until right before the Olympics, which is going to be hard. I haven’t gotten nearly the amount of reps that I would have liked, but that’s OK.”

The women's Olympic halfpipe contest starts Feb. 11.

The 25-year-old Kim, who already has qualified for the U.S. team, would be the heavy favorite to win in Italy if she’s completely healthy. She said she won’t compete this weekend in Laax. She didn’t mention the Winter X Games in Aspen later this month, which are the last big contest before the Olympics.

Kim has only been in one competition this season — last month in Copper Mountain — and while warming up for the final there, she suffered a shoulder injury, as well.

Last week, she posted video of her fall in Switzerland, which showed her skittering across the halfpipe after losing her bearings on the landing of a jump. At that time, she said she dislocated the shoulder and wasn't in that much pain. An MRI from last Friday revealed the labrum tear.

In her video, Kim said she’ll have to wear a “super-sexy shoulder brace” that is uncomfortable.

“I went through a bunch of different waves of emotions, but honestly, I’m really excited for this week,” she said.

The end of the video flashed to her picking up her boyfriend, Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett, at a train station.

“I’m so grateful to be able to do this even though the lows can get pretty damn low,” Kim wrote on the post that went along with her video. “Excited for a week of exploration!”

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

FILE - Gold medalist Chloe Kim of USA in action during the Snowboard Halfpipe competition at the FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships in St. Moritz, Switzerland, Saturday, March 29, 2025. (Gian Ehrenzeller/Keystone via AP, File)

FILE - United States' Chloe Kim trains before the women's halfpipe finals at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Feb. 10, 2022, in Zhangjiakou, China. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco, File)