Contact made!
An aircraft of the Chilean Naval Aviation (Search and Rescue Squadron, Armada de Chile) made contact with the rowing boat “AKROS” 460 miles from Cape Horn at the following coordinates: 53’45 south and 80’00 west. The airplane took off from the military base of Punta Arenas (Chile).
The flight was carried out as part of a patrol of the Southern Ocean region. The command of Armada de Chile in Punta Arenas notified Fyodor Konyukhov’s expeditionary headquarters of the planned flight to detect the rowing boat “AKROS”, informed us of the departure time and indicated that the airplane would be in the area in 2.5 hours. They asked Fedor to have a white hand flare ready and light it when he hears the sound of an approaching aeroplane. The radio is to be tuned to channel 16. The flight was carried out by an Embraer 111 aeroplane.
This is how Fedor Konyukhov himself describes this event:
“Before I heard the sound of an approaching aircraft, an alarm was triggered on board — a sound alert on the echo responder. I climbed onto the deck, heard the sound of an airplane, and a plane suddenly emerged from behind the clouds. The weather was cloudy with drizzle. The airplane did not notice me from its first approach and flew by. As we agreed, I lit a white flare. The airplane noticed me on the second lap, turned towards me flying exactly at me with its landing-taxiing lights on.
Pilots called me on the radio on channel 16. We talked for a few minutes. They asked about my state of health, how much food and water I have, and how long would it take for me to reach Cape Horn according to my calculations.
All this time the plane circled around the boat, moving away and returning. It was good that they sent a fast airplane, as a helicopter would not reach here, Cape Horn is still 460 nautical miles (828 kilometres) away.
In the end, the plane waved its wings and the pilots wished me a safe trip on the way to Cape Horn.
Thank you Armada de Chile for such a visit. The pilots were the first people I saw from the moment of my launch from the shores of New Zealand. For 141 days I had no visual contact with any ships or aeroplanes.
These pilots were highly skilled to fly in such weather that far into the Southern Ocean. I have huge respect for such professionalism”.
The video taken by the pilots was posted on Armada de Chile’s official Twitter account.