French pilot Matthieu de Quillacq, who set off for a transatlantic trip in his lightweight helicopter in mid-July but made an emergency landing in the Russian Far East on August 3, has flown to Moscow on a passenger aircraft.
Quillacq was fined 3,000 rubles ($100) for violating the Russian border after he landed in an unpopulated area in the Chukotka Peninsula. He had already visited Britain, the United States, Iceland, Greenland and Canada, and planned to return to Europe via Russia.
Quillacq was taken to Chukotka's administrative center, Anadyr, but his HeliSport CH-7 Kompress helicopter was left behind.
"I have been trying to solve the issue of having my helicopter repaired and resuming my trip. But unfortunately, I have had no success because I don't have permission for flying over Russian territory," Quillacq told RIA Novosti.
"I can't stay in Chukotka any more either because I don't have permission to stay in a border area," he said.
"Now I have to go home from Anadyr aboard a passenger plane and leave my helicopter behind in the tundra," he added.
ANADYR, August 30 (RIA Novosti)
