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CBS YouTube - Fossett Wreckage Found
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 ... more -
Searchers find Fossett's plane and human remains
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 of millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett, searchers ha... more -
Bio and news related to Steve fossett
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 legally dead February 15, 2008[1][2]) was an American ... more -
Wreckage of Fossett's plane found |
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 mountains believed to have been piloted by billionair... more -
Steve Fossett's airplane wreckage found likely eaten by Animals
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 Fossett's plane in California's rugged Sierra N... more -
Small Plane Crashes Into San Francisco Bay
for raw video check their website
http://cbs5.com/video/?id=39051@kpix.dayport.com
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SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5 / AP / BCN) ― A Cessna 210 Centurion plane crashed into the San Francisco Bay south of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge shortly before 2 p.m. Wednesday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The U.S. Coast Guard says it rescued two people from the water after the plane went down near the Bay Bridge toll plaza and new bridge contruction around 2 p.m. Wednesday.
The two passengers were not seriously injured.
The FAA said the Cessna had reported a loss of power before it crashed.
Preliminary information indicates the single-engine plane experienced engine problems before it crashed into the bay, FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said.
The Emeryville and Oakland fire departments, as well as the California Highway Patrol, California Department of Transportation and U.S.
Coast Guard, were responding, Oakland fire spokesman Lt. David Brue said.
Preliminary information indicates the single-engine plane experienced engine problems before it crashed into the bay, FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said. The Emeryville and Oakland fire departments, as well as the California Highway Patrol, California Department of Transportation and U.S. Coast Guard, were responding, Oakland fire spokesman Lt. David Brue said. for raw video check their website http://cbs5.com/video/?id=39051@kpix.dayport.com - ... more -
Barenaked ladies singer in plane crash
Ed Robertson, frontman of Canadian band Barenaked Ladies, has survived a plane crash in Ontario.
His plane crashed in woods in the south-east of the province on Sunday, after he tried to take off from Baptiste runway. Ed Robertson, frontman of Canadian band Barenaked Ladies, has survived a plane crash in Ontario. ... more -
Spanair pilot: "A light has come on, but I don't know what it means"...
The last radio call made by the pilot Garcia Luna (38) was about a warning light appearing in the cockpit: “A light has come on, but I dont know what it means.” Shortly afterwards, the Spanair plane exploded into a ball of fire.
Other passangers have already spoken about a red light that appeared in the cockpit. An investigator has been interrogating the mechanic who allowed the plane to fly. Spanish media have already reported that technical problems had been noted in the engine, but the MD-82 was allowed to fly regardless. The last radio call made by the pilot Garcia Luna (38) was about a warning light appearing in the cockpit: “A light has come on, but I... more -
Couple survives plane crash into power cable
BERLIN (Reuters) - A German couple had a lucky escape after their light aircraft hit a 380,000 volt power line and then hung upside down from a wheel for nearly three hours.
"They had a very, very lucky accident," said police officer Edmund Martin at the scene in Durach, southern Germany.
Emergency services freed the pair suspended 20 meters (65 feet) from the ground late on Sunday with a hydraulic lift after a helicopter rescue was ruled out as too dangerous.
The couple suffered only minor injuries. BERLIN (Reuters) - A German couple had a lucky escape after their light aircraft hit a 380,000 volt power line and then hung upside do... more -
Spanish plane that crashed had overheated gauge - Bodies identified from plane cra...
MADRID, Spain: A gauge that indicated overheated air was entering a Spanair jetliner just under the cockpit forced pilots to scuttle a first attempt at takeoff, about an hour before the plane crashed in flames.
But airline officials refused to speculate Thursday on what caused the crash that killed 153 people, and aviation experts said the gauge was probably not a factor.
As investigators tried to reconstruct the last, hellish minutes of the MD-82's flight, relatives crushed by grief went to a makeshift morgue to identify loved ones. Officials said many of the bodies were burned beyond recognition. MADRID, Spain: A gauge that indicated overheated air was entering a Spanair jetliner just under the cockpit forced pilots to scuttle a... more -
Spainair crash: "I saw bodies everywhere"
Survivors of fatal Spanair plane crash speak out despite the media ban
Beatriz Reyes: “I could feel that something wasn’t right with the aeroplane. The next thing I know, I lifted my head and there was no ceiling above me.” After the crash, she used a fellow passenger’s mobile to call her sister and tell her she was fine.
“As I lifted my head, I saw bodies everywhere,” Columbian emergency physician Liga Palomino told Spanish newspaper ‘El Pais’. Survivors of fatal Spanair plane crash speak out despite the media ban ... more -
Madrid plane crash survivors tell their horrifying tale
From his hospital bed, Alfredo Jesús Acosta Mendiola was calling out for his parents.
The eight-year-old was one of the youngest of the 19 survivors of yesterday's plane crash at Madrid's Barajas airport, in which 153 passengers and crew lost their lives.
Alfredo's father Alfredo Acosta Sierra died in the crash and his mother, G Rodriguez Mendiola has not been identified.
One of three children in hospital, Alfredo was dragged from the wreckage of the burning plane by emergency workers, and suffered only a broken leg. From his hospital bed, Alfredo Jesús Acosta Mendiola was calling out for his parents. ... more -
Midair plane crash kills three over Wyoming
ROCK SPRINGS, Wyo. (AP) -- Two single-engine planes collided Sunday above a remote area a few miles from an airport in southwestern Wyoming, killing all three people aboard, authorities said.
Local officials received 911 calls of an "explosion in the sky" shortly after noon, said Detective Dick Blust, a spokesman for the Sweetwater County Sheriff's Department.
Scorched debris was scattered over 5 acres northwest of the airport.
One of the planes was a Cirrus SR22 that took off from Polson, Mont., with two people aboard, said Ian Gregor, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration.
The plane was headed to the Rock Springs airport and had been communicating with regional air traffic controllers, who cleared it for approach to the airport. ROCK SPRINGS, Wyo. (AP) -- Two single-engine planes collided Sunday above a remote area a few miles from an airport in southwestern Wy... more -
Video, Sudan plane disaster: the aftermath
A Sudanese airliner broke up and burst into flames on landing in Khartoum during a dust storm, killing at least 29 of its 217 passengers. A Sudanese airliner broke up and burst into flames on landing in Khartoum during a dust storm, killing at least 29 of its 217 passenge... more
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Nine survive Chilean plane crash
A plane that crashed four days ago in Chile has been found in a forest in the south of the country, with all nine passengers alive, officials say. A plane that crashed four days ago in Chile has been found in a forest in the south of the country, with all nine passengers alive, of... more
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Fatal crash at Honduran airport
A Miami-bound passenger plane landing in the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa has overshot a runway, leaving at least five people dead, officials say. A Miami-bound passenger plane landing in the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa has overshot a runway, leaving at least five people dead, of... more
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Airliner overshoots runway in Honduras
The dangers of air Travel
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Venezuela crash black boxes found
Rescue workers in Venezuela have found two flight recorders from the wreckage of a passenger jet that crashed into the Andes mountains, killing all 46 people on board.
The "black box" recorders, located on Saturday, may explain what happened in the last moments before local airline Santa Barbara's flight 518 crashed.
The aeroplane is thought to have hit a 4,000 metre rock wall known as Indian Face on Thursday, soon after taking off from Merida, a high-altitude tourist town.
Ramon Vinas, who heads Venezuela's civil aviation authority, turned over the boxes to public investigators.
He said one contained recordings of the pilots' conversations and the other held technical data.
Searchers were still trying to recover the charred remains of the 43 passengers and three crew members. Rescue workers in Venezuela have found two flight recorders from the wreckage of a passenger jet that crashed into the Andes mountains... more -
Yikes!
Lufhansa plane aborts landing in very strong crosswinds, amazing thing to watch from the safety of your couch/desk, whatever. Must have been terrifying for those onboard. Lufhansa plane aborts landing in very strong crosswinds, amazing thing to watch from the safety of your couch/desk, whatever. Must hav... more
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Runway system being tested could save lives
A red-light warning system currently being tested in San Diego has reduced the number of close calls on runways and taxiways.
Hopefully LAX installs this system soon. A red-light warning system currently being tested in San Diego has reduced the number of close calls on runways and taxiways. ... more
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Airplane Crashes
