Steven Fossett Missing!

skoker · Wed Sep 05, 2007 2:58 am

Just flashing on CNN:

World aviation record holder Stephen Fossett is missing and a search is under way in western Nevada, an aviation spokeswoman said.

AFC_Ajax00 · Wed Sep 05, 2007 2:59 am

Just saw it as well....hope this turns out OK!

skoker · Wed Sep 05, 2007 3:04 am

New info: took off in a light aircraft this morning in Hilton, mission unclear, it was believed that Fossett was NOT wearing a parachute.

swiftski · Wed Sep 05, 2007 3:06 am

Sky News (UK):

US adventurer Steve Fossett, famed for record-breaking solo flights around the world by aeroplane and balloon, is missing, it is reported.
The Record-Courier newspaper in Nevada said Fossett, 63, was reported missing on Monday night after last being seen taking off in Nevada in a single engine aircraft.

siromega · Wed Sep 05, 2007 3:08 am

Western NV? Was he at burning man or something?

toltommy · Wed Sep 05, 2007 3:17 am

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8REPUVO1&show_article=1

"RENO, Nev. (AP) - A small plane carrying aviation adventurer Steve Fossett has been missing since Monday night, federal officials said Tuesday.

Fossett took off in the single engine Bellanca at 8:45 a.m. Monday at a private airstrip on a ranch south of Smith Valley in western Nevada and didn't return as scheduled. A friend reported him missing, said Ian Gregor, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman in Maryland.

"The Civil Air Patrol is looking for him. One problem is he doesn't appear to have filed a flight plan," Gregor told The Associated Press.

The search was being coordinated by the Air Force's Rescue Coordination Center in Langley, Va., Gregor said.

"They are working on some leads, but they don't know where he is right now," Gregor said."

skoker · Wed Sep 05, 2007 3:20 am

CNN seems to think he took off from OR05:

Quote:
(CNN) -- World aviation record-holder Steve Fossett is missing and a massive search is under way in western Nevada, a Nevada aviation spokeswoman said Tuesday.

Steve Fossett is missing and a search is under way.

Fossett took off from a private air strip known as Flying M Ranch, 30 miles south of Yerington, Nevada, at about 6 p.m. local time Monday, with enough fuel for four to five hours of flight, according to the Civil Air Patrol.

Civil Air Patrol Maj. Cynthia S. Ryan said authorities are searching hundreds of miles of rugged terrain in western Nevada. They also are analyzing information from radar intelligence to try to track Fossett.

Six search aircraft with three-man crews are taking part in the search, and high winds are posing problems, she said. Aircraft from the Naval Air Station Fallon, in Fallon, Nevada, and the California Highway Patrol also are aiding the search.

Fossett holds the record for the first solo, non-stop, non-refueled airplane trip around the world, set in the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer in 2005.

A year later he used GlobalFlyer again to break the world's flight distance record, traveling more than 26,000 miles in 76 hours.

In 2002, he achieved the first solo balloon flight around the world, traveling 20,626 miles in 14 days.

gh123 · Wed Sep 05, 2007 3:45 am

Firstly, let's hope that he is OK and is rescued very soon.

BUT, Steve Fossett is supposed to be one of the big champions of the Breitling Emergency and has a yellow one.

Steve Fossett

I hope that he had it on and if so, it is working.

Fingers crossed!

[Edited 2007-09-04 21:00:05]

nema · Wed Sep 05, 2007 3:47 am

A little surprised he didnt file a flight plan, this according to early reports

F9Animal · Wed Sep 05, 2007 3:55 am

This is very bad news. I am hoping that they find his plane soon, and that he comes out okay. I have high hopes, but at the same time, I am concerned that he is missing, and has been missing since last night.

fxramper · Wed Sep 05, 2007 4:04 am

AP is reporting they think his a/c went down in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Terrible news.

Stretch · Wed Sep 05, 2007 4:06 am

I sure hope he's o.k.

AF340 · Wed Sep 05, 2007 4:06 am

Let's hope his watch will help the rescue.

Quoting NEMA (Reply 8):
A little surprised he didnt file a flight plan, this according to early reports

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

Quoting Wikipedia:
FAA Officials have reported on September 4, 2007 that his FAR96.2 Flight Plan listed his destination as Johnson Ct. Airport.

If Wikipedia is right, which I doubt, ABC is reporting that he only had 4 or 5 hours of fuel on board he wouldn't have had enough fuel for the flight well, at least without a stop, right?

I am assuming that they are talking about KBYG airport in Wyoming.

AF340

P.S. Let's send Richard Branson to find him!

fxramper · Wed Sep 05, 2007 4:19 am

Quoting AF340 (Reply 12):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Fossett

There is an FAA spokesman on CNN and Fox right now that clearly stated, there was no flight plan filed.

MD11Engineer · Wed Sep 05, 2007 4:28 am

Quoting NEMA (Reply 8):
A little surprised he didnt file a flight plan, this according to early reports

If he was flying VFR, there was no flight plan required to be filed. Typical journo speak, "He didn't file a flight plan, this must mean he was flying without any planning!" Yeah sure

Jan

Revelation · Wed Sep 05, 2007 4:35 am

Quoting MD11Engineer (Reply 14):
If he was flying VFR, there was no flight plan required to be filed. Typical journo speak, "He didn't file a flight plan, this must mean he was flying without any planning!"

I know where you are coming from, Jan, but I see the quote is from an FAA official, not a journo.

Quoting SirOmega (Reply 4):
A friend reported him missing, said Ian Gregor, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman in Maryland.

"The Civil Air Patrol is looking for him. One problem is he doesn't appear to have filed a flight plan," Gregor told The Associated Press.

Basically, the FAA dude isn't saying that it's hard to find someone when they don't communicate that great plan to someone else. Hopefully this lack of communication does not prove fatal to Mr. Fossett.

lincoln · Wed Sep 05, 2007 4:42 am

Quoting AF340 (Reply 12):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Fossett

Quoting Wikipedia:
FAA Officials have reported on September 4, 2007 that his FAR96.2 Flight Plan listed his destination as Johnson Ct. Airport.

Just for anyone too lazy to click the link, the current version of the Wikipedia page says that he did not file a Flight Plan.

Lincoln

MAC26000 · Wed Sep 05, 2007 4:43 am

Hope he is okay, Sierra Nevada Mountains is a tough place to put a plane down.

smokeyrosco · Wed Sep 05, 2007 4:45 am

a news conference is expected in about 15 minutes.

FighterPilot · Wed Sep 05, 2007 4:53 am

Wow.... I hope he's ok and well.
I was lucky enough to meet him at EAA '05 and even have a signed autograph on a "Remove before flight" flag.

All the best
Cal airplane

vr-hkg · Wed Sep 05, 2007 5:11 am

Quoting Lincoln (Reply 16):
Just for anyone too lazy to click the link, the current version of the Wikipedia page says that he did not file a Flight Plan.

Which means absolutely nothing, other than that Wikipedia can be edited by anybody to say whatever they want, until somebody else comes in to put their own spin on it.

Wikipedia is generally a terrible source of information for ongoing news stories.

Here's hoping Fossett's OK.

smokeyrosco · Wed Sep 05, 2007 5:11 am

I believe that this was the aircraft.... can anybody confirm?

http://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/photo/012492.html

MadameConcorde · Wed Sep 05, 2007 5:13 am

Let's hope he is still alive and in good conditon. airplane

OPNLguy · Wed Sep 05, 2007 5:16 am

Quoting Revelation (Reply 15):

I know where you are coming from, Jan, but I see the quote is from an FAA official, not a journo.

Don't think for a minute that FAA PR or other FAA people are all necessarily pilots, or concersant with factual aviation stuff... Wink

MD11Engineer · Wed Sep 05, 2007 5:32 am

Quoting Revelation (Reply 15):
Quoting MD11Engineer (Reply 14):
If he was flying VFR, there was no flight plan required to be filed. Typical journo speak, "He didn't file a flight plan, this must mean he was flying without any planning!"

I know where you are coming from, Jan, but I see the quote is from an FAA official, not a journo.

Quoting SirOmega (Reply 4):
A friend reported him missing, said Ian Gregor, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman in Maryland.

"The Civil Air Patrol is looking for him. One problem is he doesn't appear to have filed a flight plan," Gregor told The Associated Press.

Basically, the FAA dude isn't saying that it's hard to find someone when they don't communicate that great plan to someone else. Hopefully this lack of communication does not prove fatal to Mr. Fossett.

The FAA guy might have just stated a fact, but the interpretation by most journalists, who don't have much knowledge of aviation, but a drive to sensationalize everything, will be that he was a reckless pilot, who took off without planning his flight "Oh my gosh, he didn't file a flight plan!"

Jan

gh123 · Wed Sep 05, 2007 5:34 am

Please stop talking about this Flight Plan issue. As we know - he was flying VFR, not IFR.

Makes things slightly more difficult, end of story.

Let's not ruin this thread.

Once again, fingers crossed.

trintocan · Wed Sep 05, 2007 5:40 am

Very sad news to hear. It has been headlining on BBC News 24, for those in the UK. They just had a press conference where the authorities said they were intensifying the search but high winds could prove difficult. Let us hope and pray for the best outcome for Steve - a true adventurer of our time.

TrinToCan.

kstatepilot · Wed Sep 05, 2007 6:20 am

Best of luck to him.

I had the chance to shake his hand after he landed in SLN. He was a nice gentleman.

My prayors will be with him.

trekster · Wed Sep 05, 2007 7:22 am

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6978818.stm

From BBC

Hope he is ok, but I have a feeling we will be getting bad news soon Sad

airwave · Wed Sep 05, 2007 7:46 am

I just saw the headline flash across my desktop! Unbelievable! Right now it doesn't seem any of the cable news networks are covering it, so i don't know what the latest is. Very sad. I always thought he was a damn lucky guy. I hope the very best for him.

...Although, it almost seems fitting if he has indeed gone out this way. A bit of the "flying off into the sunset" aging-aviator mythos.

pizzaandplanes · Wed Sep 05, 2007 8:01 am

Just saw it on CNN. I really hope this man is found dead or alive. He has forever left his mark on aviation either way.

bok269 · Wed Sep 05, 2007 9:13 am

My thoughts and prayers are with him and his family. pray

Jamie757 · Wed Sep 05, 2007 9:15 am

Steve Fossett is no stranger to emergencies and disasters. I remain hopeful that he will be found, alive and well.

pray

Rgds.

Foxy · Wed Sep 05, 2007 9:17 am

Apparently he was searching for a suitable area for a future land speed record attempt according to a quote from one of Richard Branson's Aides

"Mr Branson's spokesman said Mr Fossett was carrying four full tanks of fuel, and was searching for empty lake beds suitable for an upcoming attempt at the land speed record."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6978818.stm

[Edited 2007-09-05 02:18:33]

mark5388916 · Wed Sep 05, 2007 9:21 am

I'm hoping he found one and managed to land and is now sitting around waiting for a helo to come give him a lift. However, this may be just too optimistic at this point....

Mark

ukair · Wed Sep 05, 2007 9:54 am

How much daylight hours would he have? I understand he took off in the evening, seems strange if your doing ariel reconnaissance and not much daylight left?

boeingfever777 · Wed Sep 05, 2007 10:00 am

Quoting Ukair (Reply 35):
I understand he took off in the evening, seems strange if your doing ariel reconnaissance and not much daylight left?

Fossett, 63, was in a single-engine plane when he took off at 9 a.m. (noon ET) in good flying conditions from hotel magnate Barron Hilton's Flying M Ranch, Ryan said.

9am seems to me to be in the early morning...

ukair · Wed Sep 05, 2007 10:10 am

I guess the BBC got it wrong

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6978818.stm

OPNLguy · Wed Sep 05, 2007 10:19 am

I've heard from a friend out west that a faint ELT signal had been picked up at some point in time, but had been lost. No official confirmation, nor any indication on a possible location...

Mir · Wed Sep 05, 2007 10:21 am

Quoting Gh123 (Reply 25):
Please stop talking about this Flight Plan issue. As we know - he was flying VFR, not IFR.

Makes things slightly more difficult, end of story.

Makes things exponentially more difficult, actually. But this isn't the thread to get into detail about that sort of thing.

Hope he's alive and well somewhere.

-Mir

gh123 · Wed Sep 05, 2007 10:31 am

Quoting Mir (Reply 39):
But this isn't the thread to get into detail about that sort of thing

Exactly.

I hope that the above regarding the ELT is true but I really hope that it is the ELT from his Breitling Watch (which would mean that he was alive to deploy the antenna) rather than the plane's ELT which would have gone off automatically on 'crash' landing (if there was one of course) - which we hope was not the case.

Fingers crossed, he is sat under the wing of his plane, alone, getting to know himself better.

midcon385 · Wed Sep 05, 2007 11:03 am

Yeah, saw this earlier on TV news. Hoping everything turns out okay for Steve, even though it probably won't turn out okay for the plane itself.

Tim

L-188 · Wed Sep 05, 2007 11:11 am

Quoting Revelation (Reply 15):
Basically, the FAA dude isn't saying that it's hard to find someone when they don't communicate that great plan to someone else

I am not a big fan of FAA flight plans either, leaving a plan with a friend IMHO is a much better plan IMHO.

Quoting MD11Engineer (Reply 24):
but the interpretation by most journalists, who don't have much knowledge of aviation, but a drive to sensationalize everything, will be that he was a reckless pilot, who took off without planning his flight "Oh my gosh, he didn't file a flight plan!"

That is exactly how they will report it unfortunately.

Quoting Foxy (Reply 33):
Mr Branson's spokesman said Mr Fossett was carrying four full tanks of fuel, and was searching for empty lake beds suitable for an upcoming attempt at the land speed record."

That is why I hope maybe he tried to set down on one to do a bit for foot work and flipped it or something else minor. That would be a walk-away situation.

Quoting OPNLguy (Reply 38):
I've heard from a friend out west that a faint ELT signal had been picked up at some point in time, but had been lost. No official confirmation, nor any indication on a possible location...

That is a bad sign, to loose an ELT quickly usually means fire, the plane sank or got buried (avalanch).

OPNLguy · Wed Sep 05, 2007 11:23 am

Quoting L-188 (Reply 42):

That is a bad sign, to loose an ELT quickly usually means fire, the plane sank or got buried (avalanch).

..or it was the itty-bitty one inside that watch (versus the one in the aircraft), and it didn't put out for very long. If so, why didn't (assumedly, at this stage) the aircraft ELT go off and be picked-up?

Lots of questions and not many answers at this stage of the game...

flybyguy · Wed Sep 05, 2007 11:57 am

Personally, if I were flying in rugged terrain, I would file a flight plan and try to keep to course. Not so necessary in good VFR, but it is a lot safer if anything went wrong.

Hopefully Mr. Fossett is fine. If his ELT didn't go off, perhaps he had to make an emergency landing and is just sitting by wondering where the heck the rescue parties are.

piercey · Wed Sep 05, 2007 11:58 am

Come on, how hard is it to find this guy? Someone has had to have seen something.....

pray

piercey in CLE Sad

PYP757 · Wed Sep 05, 2007 12:19 pm

Quoting Ukair (Reply 37):
I guess the BBC got it wrong http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/ame...8.stm

Unless they meant GMT time! Would have been 5 PM in London when he took off.

zotan · Wed Sep 05, 2007 12:57 pm

Quoting Piercey (Reply 45):
Come on, how hard is it to find this guy? Someone has had to have seen something.....

They have more than 600 square miles of land to cover. Most of it is completely barren, with nobody out there. I'd say thats pretty difficult.

ltbewr · Wed Sep 05, 2007 1:27 pm

I believe much of the area where he could have crashed is quite mountainous, including high elevations. That means more risk and higher probably of problems. I do hope they find him alive. Maybe he is like a cat and still has a few of the 9 lives left (he used up a few with his baloon attempts that failed before success)

57AZ · Wed Sep 05, 2007 3:05 pm

I checked out the satellite maps of the area in which he is believed to have disappeared. The terrain in that section of Nevada is indeed mountaineous. Out here, off airport landings rarely have a happy outcome for the people on board. It also seems to me that your chances of getting killed in an airplane crash are greater in the West than the East. Back in the east, we were very active in the GA community and never in a decade of flying had a friend or associate killed. Here my folks have been for seven or eight years and have lost at least five pilot friends to fatal crashes.

Given that the area that the airplane went missing in is very sparsely populated, it would not be surprising that no one would have seen it go down or even noticed it missing until it became overdue at the airport. Vehicles and people go missing all the time in the desert, usually with bad outcomes.

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