tagged w/ Mammoth Lakes
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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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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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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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