Editorial: Freezingly foolish

When bureaucratic tendencies run amok, practicality often surrenders to policy. The upshot makes a mockery of common sense. Such is the case with Jon Johanson, the Australian pilot stranded in Antarctica because he has been refused the fuel he needs to return to New Zealand.

There is no doubt that by miscalculating what was required for his home-built aircraft to fly across the South Pole and on to Argentina, Mr Johanson is the author of his own misfortune. Or that officers at McMurdo-Scott Base have reason to be annoyed. The flight flagrantly disregarded the New Zealand-United States policy of deterring adventurers from flying over the icebound continent. That approach is designed to save the lives of people like Mr Johanson, whose activities take insufficient account of the Antarctic's hostile environment.

When the policy is breached, however, there is no call for penalties for their own sake, or for unnecessary inconvenience and expenditure. Both are implied in the offer to put Mr Johanson on a regular flight and to ship his plane home when a suitable vessel becomes available. The priority should be to get rid of the ill-fated adventurer as quickly as can be achieved, and with as little disruption to the base and its operations as possible.

Mr Johanson should be provided with fuel for his aircraft, after his ability to pay is established, and sent on his way. If the spleen of officialdom needs venting, it can be via a pre-flight pep talk. Then policy will have had its say, but not at the expense of a practical solution.