tagged w/ Steve Fossett
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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.
Fossett's widow, Peggy Fossett, released a statement thanking authorities for their work.
"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.
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.
Authorities said Monday they have positively identified some of Steve Fossett's... more
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Contractors finished plucking parts of adventurer Steve Fossett's plane from remote wilderness in the Sierra Nevada this afternoon, preparing the wreckage for analysis by the National Transportation Safety Board.
A red Bell 205 helicopter made four trips to the crash site, a roughly six-mile off-trail hike into the mountains from the nearest trailhead. The bundles of mangled metal looked like fishing pole bobs on the end of several hundred feet of line below the helicopter.
The helicopter dropped the bundles on a flatbed trailer; twisted pieces stuck out from under yellow and white tarp coverings. Many pieces were thin and torturously bent. Some were rusted, and some still carried remnants of blue paint.
A hiker found identification cards earlier this week in the remote mountains that led searchers to wreckage of Fossett's single-engine plane and bone fragments that might have come from a human. Searchers today found three more bone fragments that were consistent in size -- about 2 inches by 1.5 inches -- and shape with the earlier find.
Fossett, 63, went missing last year during a solo pleasure flight from Nevada; he and his plane were never found -- until this week when hiker Preston Morrow stumbled on the documents hidden under a blanket of pine needles.
At the crash site today, several workers from a Sacramento contractor, Plain Parts, unhooked the bundles and secured them to the flatbed with thick, yellow belts. By 1 p.m., the flatbed was ready to be attached to a truck and driven to the contractor's headquarters in Sacramento, where National Transportation Safety Board analysts planned to begin surveying the parts next week.
The safety board will be looking to see how they were damaged to determine if any parts broke off before the accident, said Mark V. Rosenker, chairman of the agency. He held a news conference today in Mammoth Lakes. Investigators also will be looking for blood stains and gathering radar data.
Contractors finished plucking parts of adventurer Steve Fossett's plane from... more
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Discovery-News.com: Adventurer Steve Fossett's pilot license and other items have been found by a hiker. James Williams gets some details.Discovery-News.com: Adventurer Steve Fossett's pilot license and other items have... more
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Moments after authorities discovered the plane wreckage of Steve Fossett, a millionaire pilot missing since last year, a blogger managed to zoom in on a virtual view of the crash site using Google Earth.
To narrow down his search, Frank Taylor, writer of Google Earth Blog, pieced together information about the characteristics and general location of the crash site. He then learned from a commenter on his blog that the FAA put out a temporary no-fly restriction to prevent pilots from flying over the area in support of the investigation.
Taylor deduced that must have been where the crash occurred, and zoomed in on the FAA's coordinates. The final piece that completed the puzzle was a photo of the crash site from the Los Angeles Times. Because Google Earth's 3D terrain is rich in detail, Taylor believes he was able to make a very close match.
"I went into Google Earth to maneuver my view around to match where that photo was taken," Taylor said in a phone interview. "I estimate the location where I put that now is about 250 feet of where that photo was taken."
In addition, another commenter on the blog said he found what appeared to be the mine site where hikers discovered Fossett's belongings and recreated Fossett's flight in Google Earth. By virtually "flying" there, he said he found a "dead-end canyon" with very little room for a plane to turn.
Moments after authorities discovered the plane wreckage of Steve Fossett, a... more
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US investigators say they have found body parts amid the wreckage of adventurer Steve Fossett's plane in a remote area of eastern California.
The body parts, although minimal, are said to be enough to provide a DNA sample for identification testing.
The 63-year-old millionaire disappeared a year ago while on a solo flight from a ranch in Nevada.
A fresh search began on Wednesday after items belonging to Mr Fossett were handed in to police by a hiker.
The wreckage of his plane was found near the town of Mammoth Lakes in California.
Most of the fuselage had disintegrated, with engine parts scattered several hundred feet away.
Madera County Sheriff John Anderson said the wreckage had been spotted late on Wednesday during an aerial search of a stretch of the Sierra Nevada mountains near Mammoth Lakes.
A ground team later confirmed the identity of the plane, which seemed to have struck the mountainside head-on, Mr Anderson said. US investigators say they have found body parts amid the wreckage of adventurer Steve... more
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CBS
Crash site investigators found human remains amid the wreckage of Steve Fossett's small plane on a remote California mountain, the chief of the National Transportation Safety Board said on Thursday.
CBS
Crash site investigators found human remains amid the wreckage of Steve... more
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MAMMOTH LAKES, Calif. (AP) — More than a year after the mysterious disappearance of millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett, searchers have found the wreckage of his plane in the rugged Sierra Nevada along with enough human remains for DNA testing.
The remains were found amid a field of debris that stretched 400 feet long and 150 feet wide in a steep section of the mountain range, the National Transportation Safety Board said Thursday at a press conference. Some personal effects also were found at the crash site, but investigators would not describe them in any detail.
"We found human remains, but there's very little. Given the length of time the wreckage has been out there, it's not surprising there's not very much," said National Transportation Safety Board acting Chairman Mark Rosenker. "I'm not going to elaborate on what it is."
The 63-year-old thrill-seeker vanished on a solo flight 13 months ago. The mangled debris of his single-engine Bellanca was spotted from the air late Wednesday near the town of Mammoth Lakes and was identified by its tail number. Investigators said the plane had slammed straight into a mountainside.
"It was a hard-impact crash, and he would've died instantly," said Jeff Page, emergency management coordinator for Lyon County, Nev., who assisted in the search.
NTSB investigators went into the mountains Thursday to figure out what caused the plane to go down. Most of the fuselage disintegrated on impact, and the engine was found several hundred feet away at an elevation of 9,700 feet, authorities said.
"It will take weeks, perhaps months, to get a better understanding of what happened," Rosenker said before investigators set off.
Search crews and cadaver dogs scoured the steep terrain around the crash site in hopes of finding at least some trace of his body and solving the mystery of his disappearance once and for all.
Rosenker said enough remains were found to provide coroners with DNA.
Fossett vanished on Sept. 3, 2007, after taking off from a Nevada ranch owned by hotel magnate Barron Hilton. The intrepid balloonist and pilot was scouting locations for an attempt to break the land speed record in a rocket-propelled car.
His disappearance spurred a huge search that covered 20,000 square miles, cost millions of dollars and included the use of infrared technology. Eventually, a judge declared Fossett legally dead in February. For a while, many of his friends held out hope he survived, given his many close scrapes with death over the years.
The breakthrough — in fact, the first trace of any kind — came earlier this week when a hiker stumbled across a pilot's license and other ID cards belonging to Fossett a quarter-mile from where the plane was later spotted in the Inyo National Forest. Investigators said animals might have dragged the IDs from the wreckage while picking over Fossett's remains.
"Everything we could have done was done," Butts said.
Searchers had concentrated on an area north of Mammoth Lakes, given what they knew about sightings of Fossett's plane, his travel plans and the amount of fuel he had.
"With it being an extremely mountainous area, it doesn't surprise me they had not found the aircraft there before," Lyon County Undersheriff Joe Sanford said.
As for what might have caused the wreck, Mono County, Calif., Undersheriff Ralph Obenberger said there were large storm clouds over the peaks around Mammoth Lakes on the day of the crash.
"I hope now to be able to bring to closure a very painful chapter in my life," Fossett's widow, Peggy, said in a statement. "I prefer to think about Steve's life rather than his death and celebrate his many extraordinary accomplishments."
MAMMOTH LAKES, Calif. (AP) — More than a year after the mysterious disappearance... more
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James Stephen Fossett (born April 22, 1944; missing September 3, 2007; declared legally dead February 15, 2008[1][2]) was an American businessman, aviator, sailor, and adventurer and the first person to fly solo nonstop around the world in a balloon. He made his fortune in the financial services industry, and was best known for many world records, including five nonstop circumnavigations of the Earth: as a long-distance solo balloonist, as a sailor, and as a solo flight fixed-wing aircraft pilot.
A fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and the Explorers Club, Fossett set 116 records in five different sports, 60 of which still stand, as of June 2007[update].[3]
On September 3, 2007, Fossett was reported missing after the plane he was flying over the Nevada desert failed to return.[4] Despite a month of searches by the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) and others, Fossett could not be found, and the search by CAP was called off on October 2, 2007. Privately funded and privately directed search efforts continued.
After a request from Fossett's wife, he was declared legally dead on February 15, 2008.[1]
On September 29, 2008, a hiker found personal items, cash, and identification documents confirmed as Fossett's near Mammoth Lakes, California.[5][6] Three days later, an aerial search spotted the wreckage of Fossett's airplane. No human remains were found and at least one official doubted anyone would have been able to walk away from the crash.[7][8][9][10]
James Stephen Fossett (born April 22, 1944; missing September 3, 2007; declared... more
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US INVESTIGATORS say they have found the wreckage of a small plane in California mountains believed to have been piloted by billionaire adventurer Steve Fossett, who disappeared more than a year ago.
The National Transportation Safety Board said it had sent a team to investigate the plane.
The wreckage was found in the eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains, close to Mammoth Lakes, California, where items including cash and ID containing Fossett's name were found by a bushwalker on Tuesday.
The bushwalker, Preston Morrow, 43, said he came across Fossett's Federal Aviation Administration identification card, his pilot's licence, a tattered sweatshirt and about $US1000 ($A1260) in cash in bushes in the Mammoth Lakes region.
Authorities had confirmed that two documents - including a pilot's licence - that had been partially covered by pine needles belonged to Fossett.
The other confirmed document was a membership card of the Soaring Society of America.
A third document, a membership card of an aeronautics association, was too damaged for a positive identification.
"The crash looked so severe I doubt if someone would have walked away from it," Madera County Sheriff John Anderson told reporters.
"There was no body in the plane. We have not found any human remains at the crash site."
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Fifty searchers and five dog teams will fan out across the area in an effort to find remains of Fossett.
Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board will also study the wreckage to determine what may have caused the crash.
Anderson said the crash site was about 0.5km from where the identity cards and cash were found by hiker Preston Morrow.
Fossett, 63, disappeared on September 3, 2007, while on a solo pleasure flight from a remote ranch in Nevada. He was flying a borrowed, single-engine Bellanca Citabria Super Decathlon.
The subsequent search for him spanned about 52,000 square kilometres, including the high country of the eastern Sierra Nevada mountains.
US INVESTIGATORS say they have found the wreckage of a small plane in California... more
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The plane wreckage was located about 10,000 feet (3,200 meters) up the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the vicinity of Mammoth Lakes, California.
The plane wreckage was located about 10,000 feet (3,200 meters) up the Sierra Nevada... more
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MAMMOTH LAKES, Calif. (AP) — Searchers found the wreckage of Steve Fossett's plane in California's rugged Sierra Nevada just over a year after the millionaire adventurer vanished on a solo flight, and the craft appears to have hit the mountainside head-on, authorities said Thursday.
Crews conducting an aerial search late Wednesday spotted what turned out to be the wreckage in the Inyo National Forest near the town of Mammoth Lakes, Sheriff John Anderson said. They confirmed around 11 p.m. that the tail number found matched Fossett's single-engine Bellanca plane, he said.
Anderson said no human remains were found in the wreckage.
"It's quite often if you don't find remains within a few days, because of animals, you'll find nothing at all," Anderson said.
Teams led by the sheriff's department would continue the search for remains Thursday, while the National Transportation Safety Board was en route to probe the cause of the crash, he said.
Most of the plane's fuselage disintegrated on impact, and the engine was found several hundred feet away at an elevation of 9,700 feet, authorities said.
MAMMOTH LAKES, Calif. (AP) — Searchers found the wreckage of Steve... more
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MAMMOTH LAKES, Calif. (AP) — Searchers found the wreckage of Steve Fossett's plane in California's rugged Sierra Nevada just over a year after the millionaire adventurer vanished on a solo flight, and the craft appears to have hit the mountainside head-on, authorities said Thursday.
Crews conducting an aerial search late Wednesday spotted what turned out to be the wreckage in the Inyo National Forest near the town of Mammoth Lakes, Sheriff John Anderson said. They confirmed around 11 p.m. that the tail number found matched Fossett's single-engine Bellanca plane, he said.
Anderson said no human remains were found in the wreckage.
"It's quite often if you don't find remains within a few days, because of animals, you'll find nothing at all," Anderson said.
Teams led by the sheriff's department would continue the search for remains Thursday, while the National Transportation Safety Board was en route to probe the cause of the crash, he said.
Most of the plane's fuselage disintegrated on impact, and the engine was found several hundred feet away at an elevation of 9,700 feet, authorities said.
"It was a hard-impact crash, and he would've died instantly," said Jeff Page, emergency management coordinator for Lyon County, Nev., who assisted the search.
After a hiker found identification belonging to Fossett earlier in the week, searchers began combing the rugged terrain on Wednesday. The wreckage was found about a quarter-mile from where hiker Preston Morrow made his discovery Monday.
The IDs provided the first possible clue about Fossett's whereabouts since he disappeared Sept. 3, 2007, after taking off from a Nevada ranch owned by hotel magnate Barron Hilton.
"I remember the day he crashed, there were large thunderheads over the peaks around us," Mono County Undersheriff Ralph Obenberger said, gesturing to the mountains flanking Mammoth Lakes.
Aviators had previously flown over Mammoth Lakes, about 90 miles south of the ranch, in the search for Fossett, but it had not been considered a likely place to find the plane.
The most intense searching was concentrated north of the town, given what searchers knew about sightings of Fossett's plane, his plans for when he had intended to return and the amount of fuel he had in the plane.
A judge declared Fossett, 63 when he disappeared, legally dead in February following a search for the famed aviator that covered 20,000 square miles.
Fossett made a fortune trading futures and options on Chicago markets. He gained worldwide fame for more than 100 attempts and successes in setting records in high-tech balloons, gliders, jets and boats. In 2002, he became the first person to circle the world solo in a balloon. He was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in July 2007.
He also swam the English Channel, completed an Ironman Triathlon, competed in the Iditarod dog sled race and climbed some of the world's best-known peaks, including the Matterhorn in Switzerland and Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
MAMMOTH LAKES, Calif. (AP) — Searchers found the wreckage of Steve... more
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MAMMOTH LAKES, Calif. (AP) -- Searchers found the wreckage of Steve Fossett's airplane in California's rugged Sierra Nevada just over a year after the millionaire adventurer vanished on a solo flight, and the craft appears to have hit the mountainside head-on, authorities said Thursday.
Crews conducting an aerial search late Wednesday spotted what turned out to be the wreckage in the Inyo National Forest near the town of Mammoth Lakes, Sheriff John Anderson said. They confirmed around 11 p.m. that the tail number found matched Fossett's single-engine Bellanca plane, he said.
Anderson said no human remains were found in the wreckage.
"It's quite often if you don't find remains within a few days, because of animals, you'll find nothing at all," Anderson said.
Teams led by the sheriff's department would continue the search for remains Thursday, while the National Transportation Safety Board was en route to probe the cause of the crash, he said.
Most of the plane's fuselage disintegrated on impact, and the engine was found several hundred feet away, Anderson said.
Searchers began combing the rugged terrain on Wednesday after a hiker found identification documents belonging to Fossett earlier in the week. The wreckage was found about a quarter-mile from where hiker Preston Morrow made his discovery Monday.
The IDs provided the first possible clue about Fossett's whereabouts since he disappeared Sept. 3, 2007, after taking off from a Nevada ranch owned by hotel magnate Barron Hilton.
"I remember the day he crashed, there were large thunderheads over the peaks around us," Mono County Undersheriff Ralph Obenberger said, gesturing to the mountains flanking Mammoth Lakes.
Aviators had previously flown over Mammoth Lakes, about 90 miles south of the ranch, in the search for Fossett, but it had not been considered a likely place to find the plane.
The most intense searching was concentrated north of the town, given what searchers knew about sightings of Fossett's plane, his plans for when he had intended to return and the amount of fuel he had in the plane.
A judge declared Fossett legally dead in February following a search for the famed aviator that covered 20,000 square miles.MAMMOTH LAKES, Calif. (AP) -- Searchers found the wreckage of Steve Fossett's... more
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A hiker in a rugged part of eastern California found a pilot's license and other items that appear to belong to Steve Fossett, the adventurer who vanished on a solo flight in a borrowed plane more than a year ago, authorities said Wednesday.
The information on the pilot license _ including Fossett's name, address, date of birth and certificate number _ was sent in a photograph to the Federal Aviation Administration, and all matched the agency's records, spokesman Ian Gregor said.
"We're trying to determine the authenticity of the document," Gregor said.
The hiker, Preston Morrow, said he found an FAA identity card, a pilot's license, a third ID and $1,005 in cash tangled in a bush off a trail just west of the town of Mammoth Lakes on Monday. He said he turned the items over to local police Wednesday after unsuccessful attempts to contact Fossett's family.
Mammoth Lakes police investigator Crystal Schafer confirmed that the department had the items, including the ones bearing Fossett's name.
Search teams led by the Madera County Sheriff's Department have been sent to the scene, and an air and ground effort was expected to be under way soon, said sheriff's spokeswoman Erica Stuart.
Morrow said he found no sign of a plane or any human remains.
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More at link.A hiker in a rugged part of eastern California found a pilot's license and other... more
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A hiker in a rugged part of eastern California found a pilot's license and other items that appear to belong to Steve Fossett, the adventurer who vanished on a solo flight in a borrowed plane more than a year ago, authorities said Wednesday.
The information on the pilot license — including Fossett's name, address, date of birth and certificate number — was sent in a photograph to the Federal Aviation Administration, and all matched the agency's records, spokesman Ian Gregor said.
"We're trying to determine the authenticity of the document," Gregor said.
The hiker, Preston Morrow, said he found an FAA identity card, a pilot's license, a third ID and $1,005 in cash tangled in a bush off a trail just west of the town of Mammoth Lakes on Monday. He said he turned the items over to local police Wednesday after unsuccessful attempts to contact Fossett's family.
Mammoth Lakes police investigator Crystal Schafer confirmed that the department had the items, including the ones bearing Fossett's name.
Search teams led by the Madera County Sheriff's Department have been sent to the scene, and an air and ground effort was expected to be under way soon, said sheriff's spokeswoman Erica Stewart.
Morrow said he found no sign of a plane or any human remains.A hiker in a rugged part of eastern California found a pilot's license and other... more
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LOS ANGELES -- Items belonging to missing aviator Steve Fossett were found in the Mammoth Lakes area, according to the Post Chronicle newspaper.
Post Chronicle Article
The Post Chronicle newspaper reported that a couple hiking in the woods found items, including an identification document.
Earlier this year, a judge in Chicago declared the millionaire adventurer legally dead, five months after his plane disappeared over the Nevada desert. Fossett vanished in September 2007 after taking off in a light plane, and a long search produced no trace of him.
Fossett earned millions of dollars trading futures and options on Chicago exchanges. Fossett was a record-setting balloonist, sailor and pilot who completed nonstop flights around the world.
Fossett's plane, a Bellanca Citabria Super Decathlon, carried a locator that sends a satellite signal after a rough landing, but officials couldn't pick up any locator signals from the plane or radio communication after he disappeared.
Fossett took off alone the morning of Sept. 3, 2007, from an airstrip about 70 miles southeast of Reno, Nev. A friend reported him missing when he didn't return at a scheduled time.
Sir Richard Branson, the British billionaire who has helped finance many of Fossett's adventures, said the 63-year-old millionaire was searching for places for an upcoming attempt to break the land speed record in a car.
Fossett's Records
In 2002, Fossett became the first person to fly around the world alone in a balloon, after five previous attempts.
In March 2005, he became the first person to fly a plane solo around the world without refueling.
He and a co-pilot also claim to have set a world glider altitude record of 50,671 feet during a flight in August 2006 over the Andes Mountains.
Fossett has climbed some of the world's tallest 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 and participated in the 24 Hours of Le Mans car race in 1996.
In 1995, Fossett became the first person to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon, landing in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada.
He was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in July 2007.
Fossett and his wife have a home in Beaver Creek, Colo. LOS ANGELES -- Items belonging to missing aviator Steve Fossett were found in the... more
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FOX news and other media outlets are reporting that personal items belonging to Steve Fossett have been found by a couple in the Mammoth Lakes area of California.
The couple was hiking when they found FAA ID cards belonging to Fossett - and police are saying the cards are not forged, according to media reports.
An initial search of the area has not turned up any further evidence of the pilot.
A new search effort is reportedly being put together.
Check back with RGJ.com later this afternoon for more details.
FOX news and other media outlets are reporting that personal items belonging to Steve... more
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A group of inventive Kiwis have come up with a quicker way of finding missing aircraft - a system which could have helped in hunts like the one for billionaire adventurer Steve Fossett.
And the device has already led to a potentially lucrative deal with the world's largest light plane company, Cessna.
In the back blocks of Manawatu's Pohangina Valley, Don Sandbrook decided to invent a new aircraft tracking system.
"It's a safety device so that if an aircraft crashes or goes missing it's leaving a breadcrumb trail of where it's been while it's been a healthy aircraft," says Sandbrook.
The palm-sized device, called Spidertracks , was inspired by the frustrating 17 day search three years ago for liquor magnate Michael Erceg.
His crashed helicopter could not be found because its emergency locator beacon was destroyed.
"I decided that it would be smart if we could put a GPS and satellite antenna and satellite modem all in one little box that we could pop on the dash of an aircraft and track it anywhere in the world," says Sandbrook.
Unlike other, bulkier, systems which rely on patchy cellphone coverage, Spidertracks sends a GPS signal to the iridium satellite network which transmits the aircraft's position in real time to Google Earth Maps. Now Cessna has agreed to distribute the system worldwide.
"It's endorsement and recognition by Cessna that Spidertracks is a good product. They've tested it for eight months, and now they're backing it and selling it around the world, so we're really rapt about that," marketing manager Rachel Donald says.
Spidertracks has also gained local recognition as the supreme winner at the recent Manawatu Business Awards.
Massey University graduate, James McCarthy, 24, is one of three shareholders and directors who provided the engineering know how.
"The key to this is speed to market. We've got to be out there first and getting to as many people as we can so that we can build that brand," McCarthy says.
And it not just about tracking aircraft. The $3000 device can be fitted to any vehicle or ship, or even carried by hunters or climbers in case they get lost or hurt.
A group of inventive Kiwis have come up with a quicker way of finding missing aircraft... more
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A lawyer for Peggy Fossett, widow of the aviation adventurer Steve Fossett, has dismissed claims he may have faked his own death.
Michael LoVallo disputed suggestions from investigators and insurance assessors that the record-setting pilot and balloonist, a friend of Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson, could still be alive after his mysterious disappearance in the Nevada desert
Mrs Fossett petitioned a Chicago court to have her husband declared dead. Her request was granted in February and her husband's estate of more than $10 million was awarded to her.
"The remarks (that Fossett could still be alive) were in disregard of the fact, many facts," Mr LoVallo told The Daily Telegraph.
"The petition to the court is of public record, that includes comprehensively all the relevant facts and I suggest someone actually review the facts responsibly and review the petition.
Mrs Fossett had no comment on the claims, he added.
Fossett, 63, the first man to fly non-stop round the earth in a hot air balloon, went missing last September after taking off from a remote Nevada airstrip on a short trip to inspect a site for possible use in a land speed record attempt. He never returned.
His disappearance sparked the most intensive hunt for a missing aircraft in US history, involving Civil Air Patrol's Black Hawks, fitted with infra-red technology, as well as 30 private planes and a global internet effort led by Amazon.com and Google.
Mrs Fossett contributed over $1 million to the efforts, her lawyers have said.
Neither Fossett's body nor the plane's wreckage were ever located.
But Lieutenant Colonel Cynthia Ryan, of the US Civil Air Patrol, who briefed the media during the search, has said the adventurer's body "should have been found", given the extensive search efforts, suggesting he could still be alive.
"It's not like we didn't have our eyes open. We found six other planes while we were looking for him. We're pretty good at what we do."
A lawyer for Peggy Fossett, widow of the aviation adventurer Steve Fossett, has... more
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Despite being officially declared dead, missing aviator/adventurer Steve Fossett is once again the subject of a renewed search in our area.
A group led by geologist Simon Donato is currently in the field near Bridgeport searching for signs or wreckage of Fossett's plane.
63 year old Steve Fossett, world-famous for his flying feats, remains missing after he took off around Labor Day 2007 for what he described as a quick flight toward Mono County. The official search for Fossett was called off in the fall and the missing man was legally declared dead in February.
According to his website, Dr. Donato will lead his small crew of adventure racers and athletes on a high intensity 8-day long ground search for Steve Fossett's crash site.
The team started searching on Monday in the hills above the Bridgeport Reservoir, near Masonic Mountain and into Nevada. So far, internet updates report that the two search teams have not found anything significant.
While much of the original search was done by air over vast stretches mostly empty land, these crews plan to travel by foot to cover areas that may have been hidden from above by cliffs and tree cover.
To follow this search online go to Dr. Donato's website at adventurescience.ca. Despite being officially declared dead, missing aviator/adventurer Steve Fossett is... more
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