Searchers looking for world record holder Steve Fossett

tonycondon

tonycondon

Gastons CRO (Chief Dinner Reservation Officer)
Joined
Mar 9, 2005
Messages
15,465
Location
Wichita, KS
Display Name
Display name:
Tony
Saw this on Avsig, obviously copied from a newspaper article online. Hopef they find him OK...

by Kurt Hildebrand, khildebrand@recordcourier.com
September 4, 2007

Print Friendly Print Email Email

Searchers are looking for world aviation record holder Steve Fossett, who was reported missing Monday night.
Fossett, 63, was last seen taking off from the Hilton Ranch south of Smith Valley in a single engine Citabria Super Decathlon heading south.
Mission Public Information Officer Civil Air Patrol spokeswoman Maj. Cynthia S. Ryan said three crews are in the air looking for Fossett’s blue and white aircraft and that more are on the way.
“We will be launching more shortly,” she said.
The search area covers hundreds of square miles of rugged terrain. The Civil Air Patrol has called area airports looking for Fossett.
Fossett made the first solo nonstop, non-refueled circumnavigation of the world in 67 hours in the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer. In 2002 he was the first person to solo around the world in a balloon. He holds several world soaring records, according to his Web site, stevefossett.com.
He was in Sparks in August preparing a jet racer to break the land speed record at Bonneville Flats.
Click to expand...
 
I hope he's found safe. It's too soon to lose such a man.
He's been far too much of an inspiration to many in aviation.
 
Re: Steve Fossett missing

I was in Smith Valley in March. That's some rugged country south of there...
 
Well so much for the search function ( on the computer not for fossett)
 
Re: Steve Fossett Missing

Spending a few hundred bucks for a 406MHz PLB w/ GPS might have helped a lot...
 
Re: Steve Fossett Missing

According to an interview this morning with Branson, Fossett had a personal locator with him.
 
speculation on avsig was that he called FSS in the air for weather updates and is still on hold.

all joking aside, he needs to be found soon
 
Lets hope Tony! Fossett not only means a lot to his family but to aviation as a whole.
 
I hope he isn't like a friend of mine had a heart attack while flying, died and the aircraft kept right on flying way out of te search area.
 
Does anyone know what a Citabria Super Decathlon is?
 
did you ever see the photo of the low wing plane that came in for a landing on a high wing plane which was also landing?
 
There's some mighty tall rocks out that way. The yellow circle on the attached chart shows where he took off, and reports are he was headed south.
 

Attachments

  • fossett_chart.jpg
    fossett_chart.jpg
    76.6 KB · Views: 45
8KCAB. I don't recall that the 'Citabria' moniker was used for that model. It was always the Decathelon, or Super Decathelon when the 180HP engine was installed. Also, I don't know what year model it was, but some were Bellanca, and some were American Champion built.
 
Yeah, Doc's right, the 8KCAB is the Decathlon/Super Decathlon (older = Bellanca-made, newer = American Champion-made). The Citabria series starts with a 7. I just couldn't figure out why they kept adding names to the plane.
 
I just heard this line on Fox News.

"...made of wood and fabric, not traditional aluminum..."
Click to expand...
Somehow, I think Fosset would disagree with that. So would a certain aviator in Oak Harbor! :)
 
wasnt it Bellanca that said they would start building aluminum airplanes when people started growing aluminum trees?
 
Someone on another list mentioned that the search has revealed 6 previously undiscovered wrecks, supposedly reported on CNN. I can't find it on their site (perhaps it's been edited). Did anyone else read this? Link?
 
smoore said:
Someone on another list mentioned that the search has revealed 6 previously undiscovered wrecks, supposedly reported on CNN. I can't find it on their site (perhaps it's been edited). Did anyone else read this? Link?
Click to expand...

From SteveFossett.com

At least 6 old aircraft wrecks - including 3 previously un-charted - have already been found, adding to the confidence of the teams that their efforts can identify aircraft forced down in the rugged high desert.
Click to expand...
 
Heh, duh! Headed to stevefossett.com right now. Thanks.

edit: oh yeah, CNN did report today that the search area is now 17,000 square miles. Holy big!
 
www.SteveFossett.com said:
It is now believed that Steve Fossett was unlikely to have ventured far afield (such as crossing the Sierra Nevada range), but that he was more likely to have been on a local pleasure flight - and that he probably was not surveying sites for the upcoming landspeed record project.
Based on Steve's known movements, plans and the aircraft's capabilities, the search is now primarily focused on a 30 - 50 mile radius of the ranch, with some members of the search team convinced he is even closer.

The aircraft's last confirmed position on Monday (3 September) at approximately 10:30 A.M. local time showed Steve west of Powell Canyon (south of Walker Lake and southwest of Hawthorne), proceeding east towards the canyon. This location is less than 30 miles SE from his point of departure / expected arrival. Steve was expected to return to the ranch around 11:00 - 11:30 AM. Although the Super Decathlon is capable of good performance at sea level, the predicted aircraft speed and climb rate must be adjusted down for the density altitude of this area in summer
Click to expand...


That area (south of Walker Lake, SW of Hawthorne) isn't even included in the updated satellite imagery they've put up at the Amazon Mechanical Turk site.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top