British pilot offers stranded Australian fuel

A British pilot forced by bad weather to abandon her attempt to fly around the world over both poles said today that an Australian aviator stranded at a research station on the Antarctic coast could use fuel she stored there for her trip.

The offer by Polly Vacher ended a diplomatic spat between Australia and its two closest allies – the United States and New Zealand – who had refused to refuel Jon Johanson’s home-made plane, which he flew over the South Pole last weekend before getting stuck on an ice runway in Antarctica without enough fuel to get back to New Zealand.