At 1923 UTC the Sky Polaris flight piloted by Captain Michel Gordillo departed the Mario Zuchelli Station. Destination? To cross the Earth’s South Pole and then land at the Argentinian Marambio Station, Antarctica in the most Northern part of Antarctica – just across the ocean straight from Argentina.

It is easy to think of Antarctica as just an icy island at the bottom of the world. But in reality it is a huge continent that spans almost 5600 kilometers across, has 14,000,000 square kilometers, and has high mountain ranges that Michel has to navigate around. Antarctica is the 5th largest continent in the world.

And Captain Gordillo must fly across it in one non-stop flight.

This will be the ultimate test of endurance. The flight is estimated to take over 22 hours. Of course the flight time will depend on the winds, cloud cover (to avoid icing, Michel must fly over, under, or around clouds), and the performance of the Sky Polaris RV-8. While at the Mario Station, the RV-8 was refueled with auto-Fuel (MoGas)  instead of aviation fuel. This is actually a good thing as MoGas has more energy than AvGas, and the aircraft’s Lycoming engine is certified to use MoGas.

Please keep watching the SpiderTracks tracking system here and when Michel reaches 90 degrees south (the South Pole), it will be a truly historic achievement that is just one more in a huge list of achievements that this project has accomplished. It was just a few months ago (April 15, 2016) that Michel crossed the NORTH pole at 90 degrees North!

After reaching the South Pole, Michel will follow the 60 degree west meridian to land at Marambio base.

Once Michel lands in Marambio Station, he will get some very much needed sleep, rest, food, fuel, and then the next stop will be to cross the treacherous straight between Antarctica and the tip of Argentina with a landing at Ushuaia airport.

Everyone please cross your fingers, hope for good weather and big tail winds.

Mario Station to Marambio