Steve Fossett search uncovers 6 wrecks

Fossett’s Wife Asks Court To Declare Him Dead

The wife of adventurer Steve Fossett, who vanished in September while flying over the Nevada desert, asked a court in Chicago to declare him dead on Monday. “As painful as it is for Mrs. Fossett, other members of the family and his many friends, it is time to initiate this process,” lawyer Michael LoVallo told The Associated Press. The court petition clarified some details of the disappearance. It stated that Fossett was on a pure pleasure flight, not scouting for sites for a land speed record attempt, as was widely reported early on. The petition also confirmed that Fossett did not take along a watch he owned that was capable of sending out a distress signal, and he did not have a parachute on board. LoVallo said the court request is a necessary step to resolve the status of Fossett’s estate, which he said is “vast, surpassing eight figures.”

Besides official search-and-rescue missions, thousands of Internet users aided in the search by scrutinizing satellite pictures for clues. Friends of Fossett also funded a private search that continued after the official search was suspended.

http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archives/avflash/1006-full.html#196665

Steve Fossett will be found!

http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?ContentBlockID=cf7287e5-f95f-4dcd-a50d-4c91282259a9&

Blimey, they are saying that “only 3 aircraft lost since 1949 have yet to be discovered” which must raise the question, “how many have crashed since 1949?” They make it sound as though 3 is a very small number, I can only guess what the terrain must be like.

On a smaller scale, I recently lost my dog in the Lake District for 8 days, going back to look for him really brought home how huge, and futile, a task it was. Needless to say, he turned up at a house in the next valley of his own accord, nobody had reported seeing him in the intervening days, despite a poster campaign.
He looked the picture of health, just a bit thinner!

Pete

Definitely…. Not True… See

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Bentine

“while his eldest son, Gus, was killed when his light aircraft crashed in August 1971. His body and aircraft were missing for ten weeks.”

Which confirms something my Dad told me years ago…

I seem to remember from my Dad it was in Epping Forest… But
who can provide a location I have seen Andes quoted on the internet… Andes Not True

It was a yellow Piper Cub and it was in “Thick Hamphsire woodland” at Ditcham Woods, 3 miles from A3 near Petersfield – The nose was embedded in hill side

Aircraft missing August 28th 1971 – Found by man walking dog Oct 31st 1971

wreck only seen due to Autumn leaves falling!!!

So you can have an aircafrt missing in UK for upto 10 weeks over 30 years ago…

Son Stuart Bentine aged 21, other person in aircraft Andrew Slade aged 25 (pilot)

The above brings back memories of the days of mystery surrounding the loss of Stuart Bentine and his pilot.
I live in Petersfield, and had just qualified as a new PPL pilot at the time of their disappearance.
The area around Ditcham woods is known as the Queen Elizabeth Forest, and is densely populated with large fir trees. The main London to Portsmouth railway line passes through a tunnel at Buriton, adjacent to Ditcham woods and is sided by a large embankment creating a small valley, which in turn can cause a wind shear effect, generally from West to East.
It is thought that the pilot was following the railway line VFR towards Portsmouth at a lowish height, and lost his bearings at the tunnel, where the railway line runs for about a mile, out of sight. It seems the aircraft made a tight turn on a reciprocal course to refind the railway line, and lost control in the turn, diving vertically into the ground between the tall fir trees. The trees closed up over the aircraft and it could not be seen from the air. The loss of control could have been the result of wind shear at that point, combined with a slow, ever tightening turn whilst all eyes were looking at the ground.
Searchers were distracted by the finding of a light aircraft main wheel found floating in the sea off Portsmouth. It was not however from a Piper Cub.
Eventually the Cub was found by a local dog walker, eight weeks later. The aircraft was severely damaged but still intact. Both occupants were still in the cockpit and had died of multiple injuries.

Steve Fossett will be found!

http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?ContentBlockID=cf7287e5-f95f-4dcd-a50d-4c91282259a9&

As we approach the 10th anniversary of the UK gaining the first supersonic land speed record, it’s a shame that we’ll never know now if Fossett could achieve the 800mph he was aiming for. 🙁

Sorry to disagree Cees, but Fossett was still aiming at plenty of new challenges. He had some further gliding records he wanted to challenge and was planning a World Land Speed Record too.

He was definitely not thinking of stopping!

The first thing that crossed my mind about hearing his dissapearance was that this would be his way of saying goodbye to the world and creating a legend. After all, after so many record attempts, and if there would be nothing left to try. life would become dull for him.

But that’s just my opinion

Cees

The legend of Steve Fossett is now beginning to join the likes of Amelia Earhart, D.B.Cooper and Area 51.

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/11/the-legend-of-steve-fossett-takes-root/

The official search for Steve Fossett has ended due to the absence of fresh clues and the impending onset of winter. That may seem early, but in the mountains of the American West the first snow often arrives in October and the last may fall in April. Details at:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,300156,00.html

No new news is bad news. But the FAA will be investigating the “new” crash sites, adding them to the known site list, trying to close some “missing” files. Here is a snippit from CNN

“”Once the search for Fossett is over, or significantly scaled back, inspectors from the Federal Aviation Administration likely will be sent to each of the newly discovered wrecks. They will try to identify the pilots and bring closure to their families, agency spokesman Ian Gregor said.

No human remains have been found at the crash sites discovered so far. But that’s not a surprise, given their age and that the region is populated by coyotes and mountain lions.

News of the old wrecks has prompted inquiries from people wondering if the pilots or passengers may be long-lost family members.””

How about UFO abduction? He is American after all…… :diablo:

Sorry for being irreverent on the wrong forum Moggy….

yes, lets hope he is with Glenn Miller now.

On April 2, 1997, a USAF A-10 attack plane went missing while on a training flight (left formation over Arizona).

It was seen over central Colorado the same day, but was not found until April 20.

The crash site was on the side of a 12,500-foot peak about 15 miles southwest of the resort town of Vail.

15 miles from an airport and winter/mountain search-and-rescue assets, and it took 18 days to locate!

http://www.cnn.com/US/9704/20/plane.found.update/

I remember that story.

They never found the two 500-pound bombs he was carrying. They are assumed dropped (without being armed) somewhere along his path.

That could spell an unpleasent surprice for campers one day 😮

Regarding the Colorado area, this site has some crash info:

http://coloradowreckchasing.tripod.com/

“The Bermuda triangle has nothing on the Rockies!”

True, but the area Steve is missing in (and the 150 GA crashes) is the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

While both are N-S ranges with peaks over 12,000′, the Rockies are 500-600 miles to the east, in Colorado (and New Mexico, Wyoming, & Montana).

The peaks in the Reno area are “only” ~9,000′, and Reno is at 4,500′, while just Colorado has 20 peaks of 14,000+’.

On April 2, 1997, a USAF A-10 attack plane went missing while on a training flight (left formation over Arizona).

It was seen over central Colorado the same day, but was not found until April 20.

The crash site was on the side of a 12,500-foot peak about 15 miles southwest of the resort town of Vail.

15 miles from an airport and winter/mountain search-and-rescue assets, and it took 18 days to locate!

http://www.cnn.com/US/9704/20/plane.found.update/

crash

Hi
Can’t recall the exact a/c details
Maybe someone else can

But near mount seymour, BC, canada.
An airliner crashed in the 50’s and was found about 30 years later by a hiker.
There is a memorial ercected by rice lake.
to put it in perspective, this is about 1/2 hour or so from north vancouver.

also for example two 1940 aircraft crashed on dartmoor, UK and were missing for nearly three months.

cheers
Jerry

That little number certainly brings home to me just how big an area is being combed for him. I just can’t imagine anywhere in the UK where that many wrecks could remain undiscovered for longer than a day or two – not even the Scottish Highlands.

Adrian

Definitely…. Not True… See

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Bentine

“while his eldest son, Gus, was killed when his light aircraft crashed in August 1971. His body and aircraft were missing for ten weeks.”

Which confirms something my Dad told me years ago…

I seem to remember from my Dad it was in Epping Forest… But
who can provide a location I have seen Andes quoted on the internet… Andes Not True

It was a yellow Piper Cub and it was in “Thick Hamphsire woodland” at Ditcham Woods, 3 miles from A3 near Petersfield – The nose was embedded in hill side

Aircraft missing August 28th 1971 – Found by man walking dog Oct 31st 1971

wreck only seen due to Autumn leaves falling!!!

So you can have an aircafrt missing in UK for upto 10 weeks over 30 years ago…

Son Stuart Bentine aged 21, other person in aircraft Andrew Slade aged 25 (pilot)

Alternative senario!

It seems that the Emergency Location transmitter (the AC was fitted with an ELT), has not been activated, which would indicate the aircraft did not actually crash, but the G-earth images are quite sharp, and i would expect a complete light aircraft would have been spottet by now.

Could this indicate a ditch?

How about UFO abduction? He is American after all…… :diablo:

Sorry for being irreverent on the wrong forum Moggy….

Would you pilots out there prefer ditching an aircraft in a lake, rather than attempt a landing on rough ground?

In a high wing aircraft with fixed gear a ditching isn’t an option that would be high on my list of favourite things to do. I’d settle for rough ground first, but take the lake rather than tree covered terrain anytime.

You’d assess each situation on its merits. Impossible to make hard or fast rules.

Moggy

For those of you, who follow the mechanical turk search, i have a bit of an update.

“The aircraft was last seen on NAS Fallon radar ~5 miles east of Hawthorne Army Depot, (38 30N, 118 30W) proceeding northbound, descending slowly (controlled) through 7000’ msl at 10:05 AM local time. This location is less than 30 miles ESE from the point of departure/arrival. Estimated time of return to the ranch was 11:00 AM. The predicted aircraft performance and climb rate must be adjusted down for the density altitude of this area in summer. Because it was a tube and fabric aircraft, it is very likely that the wreckage will look like a pile of sticks and paper. Satellite images of intact aircraft are usually in flight and not wreckage.

Steve was on a local pleasure flight and not surveying run sites for the LSR. The extreme terrain and high density altitude require turbine helicopters for close in search. Fixed wing and piston aircraft have proven to be unable to follow the terrain in the present conditions.

The majority of the search effort is concentrated in this area with Army and Air National Guard aircraft supplemented by volunteers and chartered helicopters manned by trained SAR operators and observers. The main search is being directed by National Guard SAR and C-SAR personnel with direct input from Steve’s staff pilot on his habits and intentions.

Eric Ahlstrom
Program Manager, ALSR
775-302-6762 cell
[email]eahlstrom@pyramid.net[/email] “

This would put the aircraft well outside the google search area and thus make the mechanical turk irrelevant.

I have been following the Mechanical turk/Google earth search, and by the hit count, most of the area should have been seen now.

It seems that the Emergency Location transmitter (the AC was fitted with an ELT), has not been activated, which would indicate the aircraft did not actually crash, but the G-earth images are quite sharp, and i would expect a complete light aircraft would have been spottet by now.

Could this indicate a ditch?

Would you pilots out there prefer ditching an aircraft in a lake, rather than attampt a landing on rough ground?

Best case senario: Plane ditch and sink, pilot swims ashore. Hard to spot a person on google earth, or from a SAR plane.

It would depend on the ELT type. Not all are fully reliable and some activate in water.

Not all the help being offerred is appreciated!

http://ap.lubbockonline.com/pstories/20070911/198574347.shtml