Roost Air Lounge => Aviation related topics => Topic started by: Baradium on September 05, 2007, 10:25:39 PM
Title: Steve Fossett missing!
Post by: Baradium on September 05, 2007, 10:25:39 PM
http://kutv.com/local/local_story_247140815.html
Quote
Rescuers Hope Nerves Of Steel Will Help Fossett SLIDESHOW: Steve Fossett Adventures Around The Globe RENO Millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett's admirers were counting on his grit and experience Wednesday as rescuers searched for his missing plane 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.''
The millionaire aviator did not file a flight plan. His plane, a Bellanca Citabria Super Decathlon, carried a locator that sends a satellite signal after a rough landing, but officials said they had picked up no locator signals from the plane or radio communication.
Even if the plane locator failed, Fossett usually wears a Breitling Emergency watch that allows pilots to easily signal their location, said Granger Whitelaw, co-founder of the Rocket Racing League.
``They're registered to us personally, so they know it's you,'' he said by phone Wednesday from New York. There had been no word of such a signal by Wednesday.
Rescuers in Nevada had higher hopes of finding something because there was little wind to interfere with their aerial search efforts, unlike Tuesday, said Gary Derks, operations officer for the Nevada Division of Emergency Management.
The aerial search Tuesday included 14 aircraft conducting grid searches over 7,500 square miles _ an area larger than Connecticut. The search on Wednesday was intended to concentrate on 600 square miles.
Fossett, the first person to circle the world solo in a balloon, took off alone Monday morning from an airstrip at hotel magnate William Barron Hilton's Flying M Ranch, about 70 miles southeast of Reno. A friend reported him missing when he didn't return.
It was not known what kind of survival gear, if any, Fossett might have had with him. He was planning just a short flight before returning to the private air strip.
Civil Air Patrol Maj. Cynthia Ryan would not speculate about how many days someone might survive in the terrain, but she and longtime associates of the 63-year-old adventurer said he had proven survival skills.
``He's a very savvy and methodical and determined pilot. I'd give him the highest odds,'' she said.
Winds gusting up 40 mph on Tuesday kept the search planes from flying as low to the ground or as close to the 10,000-foot peaks as they would have liked, Ryan said.
One Civil Air Patrol pilot said turbulence was so bad that his aircraft dropped 1,500 feet in about three seconds. The downdrafts and gusts also provide a very real danger: They can come out of nowhere to push aircraft into the granite mountainsides if pilots aren't careful.
``It's provided a real bouncy ride for our searchers and that makes it really difficult to look at what's on the ground,'' Ryan said.
Forecasters said the winds would drop to about 10 mph on Wednesday in the county Fossett had targeted. Temperatures were in the high-40s overnight and were expected to be in the high 70s and low 80s on Wednesday.
Searchers have had little to go on because Fossett apparently did not file a flight plan, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said.
``It is a very large haystack, and an airplane is a very small needle, no doubt about it,'' Ryan said at a news conference.
Nevada National Guard planes and helicopters in the rescue effort were equipped with infrared and other high-tech vision equipment, said Col. Craig Wroblewski, the Guard's director of operations. The aircraft worked into the night Tuesday, but there was no sign of the pilot or his plane.
``We just want to find him alive,'' Wroblewski said.
Fossett has an application pending before the U.S. Bureau of Land Management for a permit in Eureka County to attempt to break the land-speed record of 766.6 mph.
In 2002, Fossett became the first person to fly around the world alone in a balloon. In two weeks, his balloon flew 19,428.6 miles around the Southern Hemisphere. The record came after five previous attempts _ some of them spectacular and frightening failures.
It is among dozens of firsts claimed by Fossett in his life as an adventurer, which he embarked on after earning a fortune as a financial trader.
He set marks for speed or distance in balloons, airplanes, gliders, sailboats _ even cross-country skis and an airship, according to his Web site. In March 2005, he became the first person to fly a plane solo around the world without refueling.
Fossett also has experience as an outdoorsman, climbing some of the world's best-known peaks, including the Matterhorn in Switzerland and Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
He also swam the English Channel in 1985, placed 47th in the Iditarod dog sled race in 1992, participated in the 24 Hours of Le Mans car race in 1996 and broke the round-the-world sailing record by six days in 2004.
Title: Re: Steve Fossett missing!
Post by: undatc on September 06, 2007, 01:36:52 AM
Old new kid, happened yesterday. I'm sure he will be ok, as CNN put it, "he's a tuff old bird."
Title: Re: Steve Fossett missing!
Post by: PiperGirl on September 13, 2007, 12:14:40 AM
So today, one of our local pilots walked in to my office and said he had seen on TV that they found Steve Fosset... ::thinking:: but I haven't heard anything like that. Did I just miss something or was this guy just blowing smoke?
Title: Re: Steve Fossett missing!
Post by: Rooster Cruiser on September 13, 2007, 01:49:44 PM
Still missing as of this morning. I often fly over the area where he went missing, and I am sorry to say this but that is about as rugged of country as you will find in the USA. Very easy for airplanes going missing for years (witness the 10 previously missing wrecks they have found so far). After nearly two weeks, I don't know how Fossett could survive without any water. Its been extremely dry up there this year.
Title: Re: Steve Fossett missing!
Post by: THEfuelguy on September 14, 2007, 04:18:36 AM
As of tonight, Thursday, he is still missing. He spends two weeks each summer in Ely flying his glider. He tried to set an glider altitude record several years ago when I was working at the airport. He missed it at just under 49,000 feet due to a navigational error. I refueled his Citation X once, so his missing is kind of personal and I feel for his friends and family.
Title: Re: Steve Fossett missing!
Post by: Mike on September 17, 2007, 04:40:10 AM
just flew from WMC to SVE with one radio tuned to 121.5 and looking for a wreckage . . . . nothing . . .
anybody have any news?
Title: Re: Steve Fossett missing!
Post by: Baradium on September 17, 2007, 07:27:12 AM
just flew from WMC to SVE with one radio tuned to 121.5 and looking for a wreckage . . . . nothing . . .
anybody have any news?
This is a good time to remind everyone that when monitoring 121.5 for an ELT be SURE to turn your squelch OFF!
Many radios will consider even a full strength ELT signal to be static and squelch it out. This includes the radios in our 1900s (we have the original style Collins units found in many King Airs). I've turned it on and off a few times while recieving strong ELT signals to verify this. With squelch on you may fly directly by an ELT and never know it. At best you may miss out on weaker signals.
Also noteworthy is that there can be a "dead zone" for an ELT just like a VOR's zone of confusion. If you pass directly overhead an ELT the signal may dissapear. An immediate drop off and then return of signal can signify you have passed over the transmitting device.
If monitoring for ELT signals, try to note your position as soon as you hear any signal (fade in) and then when you lose the signal (fade out). This is mostly useful when triangulating an ELT position, but can give SAR personel a better starting point (gives a better reference on where you would have received your strongest signal at). There are more procedures regarding ELTs and monitoring you can find in the AIM, but I believe this covers the important aspects.
Unfortunately, at this point the ELT batteries will have ran out, if the ELT was actually operating in the first place.
Title: Re: Steve Fossett missing!
Post by: airtac on September 18, 2007, 03:15:52 PM
Been a couple of weeks now and I'm afraid the prospects for his safe return are increasingly dismal-----met him at Ely on a number of occasions and for a rich guy, he seemed well grounded (no pun intended).........Very sad and mysterious indeed! Close friend of mine went missing in 1961 in an Aeronca Champ on a 30 minute local flight out of Petaluma CA, a pretty highly populated area. It's been 46 years now and no one has ever found any traces of him or the airplane (N3472E)
Remember, ALWAYS FLIGHT FOLLOW (FAA flight plan or tell someone exactly where you're going) and ALWAYS FOLLOW YOUR PLANNED ROUTE 8) ---makes it easier to find your sorry butt when you go missing. |:)\
Title: Re: Steve Fossett missing!
Post by: PiperGirl on September 28, 2007, 12:58:21 PM
When I was backpacking in the cascade mountain range in WA a couple of years ago, we happened upon the skeleton of a WWII plane that had crashed. Of course we weren't the first to see it and it is a documented site now, but it hadn't been found for years and years after the crash. It was originally found by a backpacker in the 70-80s I think.
Title: Re: Steve Fossett missing!
Post by: Baradium on September 30, 2007, 06:03:03 AM
Sometimes it seems that some things should be much easier to find if they are lost... but even an airplane can become impossibly small when dealing with wilderness.
Even in relatively well traveled parks, few people venture off of the well established routes and trails. It'd be possible for wreckage to be quite close to people and never noticed.
Title: Re: Steve Fossett missing!
Post by: TheSoccerMom on October 01, 2007, 02:51:40 AM
Sounds like the search is active again, as they "saw" something in an area that was focused on by USAF imagery examiners... thye were pretty vague on the news, and added they didn't want to "disclose the exact area" because they feared an influx of private planes.
It has been a month... stranger things have happened.... but that is sure an awfully long time to be very optimistic in terms of airplane wrecks.... |:)\
Title: Re: Steve Fossett missing!
Post by: tundra_flier on October 01, 2007, 08:25:07 AM
Just one question...does anyone here think this kind of search effort would be expended for one of us? How many previously lost aircraft have been found by this search now? Anyone here actually know Fosset? Does anyone here think the search for them would go past the first week? Sorry, just getting sick of this countries celebrety worship.
Phil
Title: Re: Steve Fossett missing!
Post by: airtac on October 01, 2007, 02:38:47 PM
Just one question...does anyone here think this kind of search effort would be expended for one of us? How many previously lost aircraft have been found by this search now? Anyone here actually know Fosset? Does anyone here think the search for them would go past the first week? Sorry, just getting sick of this countries celebrety worship.
Phil
I met Steve several times at ELY and he seems to be an enthusiastic aviator as well as pleasant person |:)\---would anyone expend this much effort for one of us ?---no way ::complaining:
Title: Re: Steve Fossett missing!
Post by: spacer on October 01, 2007, 02:39:54 PM
Just one question...does anyone here think this kind of search effort would be expended for one of us? How many previously lost aircraft have been found by this search now? Anyone here actually know Fosset? Does anyone here think the search for them would go past the first week? Sorry, just getting sick of this countries celebrety worship.
Phil
Ah, well. It happens in many countries. Royalty across the pond, and folks are expected to worship their 'leaders' at gunpoint in many other nations. I think there'll always be a higher value placed on people who are more popular with the public (and even more on the well-politically-connected). As for myself, I'd rather not be that deep in the public eye, and I'll take greater care with my flying. There are people close to me who I hope will try as hard as possible to find me, and the .gov can go sit on their thumbs.
Title: Re: Steve Fossett missing!
Post by: Baradium on October 03, 2007, 08:38:53 AM
There wouldn't be this type of pomp for one of us.
They really did carry it on/
Update though: The USAF has called the CAP off of the search.
Title: Re: Steve Fossett missing!
Post by: TheSoccerMom on October 03, 2007, 11:42:29 PM
I agree -- a search doesn't usually garner this much attention and effort.
I think we went almost two weeks on an aerial search once, but it was snowing a lot, and everyone knew it was a case of "now or not at all"... and even then, the aircraft wasn't found until many years later, when a hunter stumbled over it.
There's a whole LOT of country out there.... :(
Title: Re: Steve Fossett missing!
Post by: Rooster Cruiser on November 27, 2007, 04:59:44 AM
Steve's Family has apparently reached the conclusion the rest of us have;
CHICAGO — The wife of millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett, who disappeared while flying his plane in September in rugged Western terrain, asked a court Monday to declare him legally dead.
"As painful as it is for Mrs. Fossett, other members of the family and his many friends, it is time to initiate this process," said attorney Michael A. LoVallo, who filed the petition in Cook County Circuit Court.
The request was a step toward resolving the legal status of Fossett's estate, which according to court papers is "vast, surpassing eight figures in liquid assets, various entities and real estate," LoVallo said.
Fossett, 63, disappeared Sept. 3 after taking off in a single-engine plane from an airstrip near Yerington, Nev., heading toward Bishop, Calif.
Fossett was on a pleasure flight and not looking for a dry lake to use as a surface on which to set the world land speed record, as was initially reported, according to the petition filed on behalf of Peggy V. Fossett.
He did not have a parachute, nor did he take a watch that had a transponder and could have sent out a distress signal, the petition said. There was a transponder aboard but no signal was received.
RelatedStories Winter Forces Suspension of Search for Missing Aviator Steve Fossett Search for Aviator Steve Fossett Suspended Yet Again Search for Missing Aviator Steve Fossett Ramped Up After New Air Force Analysis Search for Missing Aviator Steve Fossett Scaled Back Photo Essays Aviator Steve Fossett With winter closing in, a rescue effort that involved dozens of planes and helicopters was officially suspended after more than a month of searching. The National Transportation Safety Board concluded in a preliminary report that the plane was destroyed in a fatal accident.
Fossett had become one of America's best-known adventurers in more than a decade of pouring his fabulous wealth — earned in Chicago's commodities markets — into chases for world records in sailing, ballooning and other rugged and sometimes dangerous outdoor activities.
The soft-spoken, California-born Fossett had previously survived a nearly 30,000-foot plunge in a crippled balloon, a dangerous swim through the frigid English channel and hours stranded in shark-infested seas.
He also completed Alaska's Iditarod race, scaled some of the world's best-known peaks, sailed and flew around the world, and set more than 100 aviation and distance records.
The area where authorities believe his plane went down is rugged and mountainous, with many ravines covered by trees and brush. While the wreckage of the plane has not been found, the petition said there was no chance that Fossett might somehow have survived.
Among other things, he had only a single water bottle to cope with the 80-degree heat, even if he had emerged from the wreckage alive.
"Fossett did not have any reason to disappear," the petition said. "Fossett was happy and passionately involved in his pursuit of adventure."
So, Steve has gone West. Tailwinds, and Blue Skies. |:)\
Title: Re: Steve Fossett missing!
Post by: PiperGirl on November 27, 2007, 01:31:02 PM
You know how we all wondered if so much effort would be put in to finding the common pilot... Although the family of this pilot is trying to keep people involved in the search, it's obvious that the effort for this pilot is puny compared to Steve Fossett....
Oh well... Fame and money talk.
Quote
Family Of Lost Pilot Seeks Help Online
When famed aviator Steve Fossett went missing in Nevada last September, the scale of the search was humbling to many pilots who wondered, if I disappear one day, will the whole world come looking? Thanks to the Internet, it's easier for even us regular folks to get the word out when a beloved pilot fails to come home. On Oct. 23, Ron Boychuk, 60, took off in his Cessna 172 from Springbank Airport near Calgary, Alberta, en route to Qualicum Beach, in British Columbia. He never arrived, and after extensive air and ground searches turned up nothing, his family launched a Web site in the hope that folks in the area will remember to keep a lookout. "If you or anyone you know has any information, no matter how small, we want to know, as any info that leads to the finding of Ron will result in a cash reward," the site reads. Boychuk's family has raised about $20,000, according to the Edmonton Sun. His three sons have joined with search and rescue teams and many volunteers to scour the area, but came up with nothing. "Because of the large area and the terrain, there is still sooo much more to search," it says at the site. "His sons will not give up until their father is found."
The site makes no mention of using the Mechanical Turk method that was employed in the search for Fossett, in which hundreds of volunteers worked online to search satellite images. But Fossett went missing over the desert. It seems unlikely the satellite method would help in searching the mostly forested Canada region.
Title: Re: Steve Fossett missing!
Post by: TheSoccerMom on December 30, 2007, 07:52:16 PM
Even though Steve's wife asked that he be declared dead in November, the search will continue....
From the Nevada Appeal:
"The search has not been called off, but suspended," said Gary Derks, operations officer for the Division of Emergency Management for the State of Nevada.
"We've got private organizations that are going to be out there as soon as next week. There's a lot of people out there still searching. Is the state putting people out there? No. But Mr. Fossett is not forgotten. It's still an ongoing search and will continue to be an on-going search until he's located."
There's a lot of snow in Nevada..... The article mentioned two specific areas... I wish them all luck. There's a lot of wild country in that state!
Title: Re: Steve Fossett missing!
Post by: Oddball on December 30, 2007, 09:01:47 PM
is there any news about steve fossett? been awhile since ive heard anything, all i heard was went went missing on the news and that was it
Title: Re: Steve Fossett missing!
Post by: Baradium on December 31, 2007, 07:44:50 AM
heard recently that mr steve fosset has been decleared legally dead
I reckon his widow needs to settle his estate----and you know what they say about that? "A will is a dead giveaway" <groan> ::sleep::
Title: Re: Steve Fossett missing!
Post by: Oddball on February 18, 2008, 11:46:57 AM
airtac i think you need to get off the cheap wine and get onto the good whiskey, i think your blood/alcohol levels are low
Title: Re: Steve Fossett missing!
Post by: airtac on February 18, 2008, 04:08:34 PM
Cheap wine? Hardly, I live in wine country and drink the finest--called "Two Buck Chuck" (Charles Shaw--$2.00 a bottle) ;D but it's a bloody holiday today (presidents day) so I might have a shot of Glenfiddich before supper as a birthday toast to our former leaders. |:)\
Title: Re: Steve Fossett missing!
Post by: Oddball on February 18, 2008, 04:32:54 PM
you dont want Glenfidich, i find the taste goes after the first dram
Title: Re: Steve Fossett missing!
Post by: Liberte on October 02, 2008, 01:06:57 AM
A hiker in the California Sierras has found personal items of Mr. Fossett's -- his pilot certificate, an ID of some sort, and a bunch of loose cash. It was in the Minaret Lake area, according to the news, and on Google Earth you can see what rugged country that is.
RIP, Mr. Fossett.
|:)\
Title: Fossett's Plane Wreckage confirmed
Post by: Rooster Cruiser on October 02, 2008, 02:43:46 PM
Finally after a year, they've found his plane, but no sign of Fosset.
The wreckage of a small plane found in the eastern California woods is in fact that of lost adventurer Steve Fossett, authorities said Thursday.
Madera County Sheriff John Anderson told reporters that searchers "found enough wreckage to determine that it was in fact the aircraft" Fossett was flying solo when he disappeared last September.
The news came after federal transportation officials headed to California Thursday morning to investigate the plane debris found in a rugged wooded area.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) went to the eastern part of the state to analyze what appeared to be the remnants of a small plane — discovered overnight by searchers not far from where a hiker came across Fossett's personal effects earlier in the week.
Fossett, 63, vanished on a solo flight more than a year ago.
The wreckage was located at about an elevation of 10,000 feet in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the Mammoth Lakes, Calif., area, the NTSB said.
Fossett — who made international headlines with a daring round-the-world balloon trek — was flying alone when he vanished Sept. 3, 2007.
RelatedStories Search for Adventurer Steve Fossett Resumes in Nevada Nevada to Bill Missing Adventurer Steve Fossett's Widow for Search Expenses Wife of Missing Millionaire Steve Fossett Asks Illinois Court to Declare Him Dead Winter Forces Suspension of Search for Missing Aviator Steve Fossett Search for Aviator Steve Fossett Suspended Yet Again Search for Missing Aviator Steve Fossett Ramped Up After New Air Force Analysis Search for Missing Aviator Steve Fossett Scaled Back Photo Essays Aviator Steve Fossett The initial aerial sighting was called in around sunset, according to Erica Stuart, spokeswoman for the Madera County Sheriff's Office.
Searchers had been combing a 10-mile radius around the spot where a hiker had found what appeared to be a pilot's license and other items belonging to Fossett in a thicket of woods not far from the Nevada state line.
Preston Morrow, a local ski shop owner, told FOX News that he was hiking alone with his dog near his home in Mammoth Lakes, Calif. on Monday afternoon when he stumbled across what appeared to be three identification cards bearing Fossett's name and issued by the Federal Aviation Administration in Illinois.
Morrow, 43, also found $1,005 in cash, he said.
On Tuesday, he returned to the site to get a GPS reading when he spotted a sweatshirt on top of a ridge.
Morrow then brought the items back home to his wife, a local fire captain, Mammoth Lakes Police Chief Randy Schienle told FOX News.
He then turned the items over to local police Wednesday after unsuccessful attempts to contact Fossett's family.
Click here for an On the Scene blog by FOX News' Adam Housley.
Officers believe the cards are authentic, sources said.
The bills were tattered and crumpled on the ground; the weather-worn sweatshirt was nearby, Morrow told FOX. Both human and animal hair were found on the clothing.
Morrow said he didn't find any signs of the light plane Fossett was flying when he disappeared last September.
"I have to admit, his name didn't pop in my head immediately," he told FOX.
But Morrow's discovery prompted authorities to assemble a new search team to comb the area, Schienle said.
Fossett was the first person to ride the jet stream around the world in a balloon. He climbed some of the world's tallest and toughest mountains, sailed and set a number of world records.
He was declared legally dead in February.
In August, an attorney for Fossett's widow pleaded for an end to speculation circulating on the Internet that the millionaire balloonist and air adventurer may have faked his own death, possibly because he was heavily in debt.
Fossett, who made a fortune trading futures and options on Chicago markets, took off from a private airstrip in Nevada last September on a solo flight in a light plane.
He never returned, and until now, searchers had found no trace of the plane — though authorities had believed it went down in a rugged region.
One of Fossett's friends reacted to Wednesday's news with cautious optimism.
"It would be nice to get closure," said Ray Arvidson, a scientist at Washington University who worked on Fossett's past balloon flights.
Looking at the tattered condition of his certificate and given his body still hasn't been found, I wonder if perhaps Mr Fossett went looking for help and then died of a wild animal attack. The Sierra Nevada is home to both bears and cougars which will attack even healthy adult humans.
Sad ending.
RC
Title: Re: Steve Fossett missing!
Post by: Rooster Cruiser on October 04, 2008, 06:55:41 AM
I now stand corrected according to this passage:
Quote
Wreckage indicated a high-speed impact at about 10,000 feet. Small pieces of human remains were found with the wreckage, said National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Mark Rosenker.
So he may have died at the crash site. Vultures and other carrion types may have picked his remains clean. Sad...
My heart goes out to his family, as well as to Barron Hilton from whose Ranch Mr Fosset departed.
RC
Title: Fosset's Bones Identified
Post by: Rooster Cruiser on November 04, 2008, 08:50:03 PM
The DNA test has come back identifying the bones found near the crash site as belonging to Steve Fosset. RIP |:)\
MADERA, California — Authorities said Monday they have positively identified some of Steve Fossett's remains: two large bones found a half-mile from where the adventurer's plane crashed in California's Sierra Nevada.
Madera County Sheriff John Anderson said DNA tests conducted by the state Department of Justice positively identified the bones as the remains of the millionaire aviator who disappeared last year.
Anderson has declined to say what bones were found, saying he didn't want to cause the family further anguish.
Fossett's widow, Peggy Fossett, released a statement thanking authorities for their work.
Click here for photos | Click here for video
"I am hopeful that the DNA identification puts a definitive end to all of the speculation surrounding Steve's death. This has been an incredibly difficult time for me, and I am thankful to everyone who helped bring closure to this tragedy," she said.
The bones were discovered last week, along with Fossett's tennis shoes and Illinois driver's license, which had animal bite marks on them.
Steve Fossett Fossett disappeared in September 2007 after taking off from a Nevada ranch owned by hotel magnate Barron Hilton for what was supposed to be a short pleasure flight. Law enforcement, fellow aviators and others launched a costly search that covered 20,000 square miles but turned up empty.
The wreckage of Fossett's plane was discovered last month after a hiker walking off trail in the Sierra Nevada near Mammoth Lakes stumbled across Fossett's pilot's license and a wad of weathered $100 bills. Authorities said Fossett likely died on impact.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the cause of the crash.
Title: Re: Steve Fossett missing!
Post by: ZK Kiwi on November 04, 2008, 09:23:24 PM
A sad end for one of the greatest modern adventurers. Steve spent quite a bit of time in New Zealand during both is Sailing and gliding projects, and his loss is felt amongst the aviation and sailing communities. RIP
