What happened to Steve Fossett ?
MINDEN, Nev. — Millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett’s admirers were counting on his grit and experience Wednesday as rescuers searched for his small plane, missing for more than a day in the rugged mountains and sagebrush-filled desert of western Nevada. Fossett’s single-engine plane vanished Monday as he was scouting dry lake beds for an attempt to set a world land speed record. “Steve is a tough old boot. I suspect he is waiting by his plane right now for someone to pick him up,” said Sir Richard Branson, the U.K. billionaire who has helped finance many of Fossett’s adventures. “Based on his track record, I feel confident we’ll get some good news soon.’’ Branson said early Wednesday that he hoped to hear some positive news soon. The plane, a Bellanca Citabria Super Decathlon, carried a locator that sends a satellite signal after a rough landing, but no such signal had been received. An aerial search Tuesday that included 14 aircraft conducted grid searches over 7,500 square miles — a
On Labor Day 2007 (USA), September 3, Steve Fossett disappeared without trace on a routine local flight. For those who do not know who Steve was, he was a self-made multi-millionaire who set new records in human achievement on many fronts, notably in flying, sailing and ballooning, amongst other areas. You can read about his exploits at www.stevefossett.com. You can also see details of the initial search that was conducted to try and locate him and his plane. No trace of Steve or his plane has been found and it has fascinated and intrigued many people as to what happened to him. How could a man who had survived extraordinarily difficult circumstances so many, many times come to grief on a short local hop? Further, there was no signal from his plane’s emergency beacon. You can imagine my surprise when, on April 16, 2008 I received an email from an acquaintance of mine which included the following; “Another amazing thing happened yesterday evening! I found a Link in the Lightbox on the S
Why the U.S. Civil Air Patrol couldn’t find Steve Fossett. “You are looking for something that doesn’t belong: burned foliage, glinting metal, scorch marks on the ground,” explains Cynthia Ryan, who is sitting next to me in our Cessna 182, making notes about our flight on a yellow legal pad. It is a crisp and cloudless September morning, and I am serving as a “scanner” on this Civil Air Patrol flight. The job is painful: With my face smushed against the rear starboard window, I squint through the blinding morning sun to scrutinize a jumble of craggy peaks, badlands, arroyos, and withering scrub. Ryan points out Mount Grant, an 11,500-foot-high monolith at 10 o’clock, just as the pilot rolls us sideways to avoid hitting it. “That’s one son-of-a-gun to search because it’s so rugged,” she says.
