Search begins anew for adventurer Steve Fossett near Mammoth Lakes

Some items found, but no wreckage or body, authorities say

Google Map

The markers show the location of Mammoth Lakes, Calif. The larger terrain map shows the rugged area nearby where items belonging to adventurer Steve Fossett were found Tuesday. Searchers had been looking for Fossett since his plane disappeared on Sept. 3, 2007. Fossett was declared dead by an Illinois judge on Feb. 15.

By Mary Manning (contact)

Published Wed, Oct 1, 2008 (11:56 a.m.)

Updated Wed, Oct 1, 2008 (4:07 p.m.)

Google Map

The marker indicates where items belonging to adventurer Steve Fossett were found Tuesday in California. Searchers had been looking for him since his plane disappeared on Sept. 3, 2007. Fossett was declared dead by an Illinois judge on Feb. 15.

AP: Possible Fossett items found in California

Has Fossett flown the coop? (8-2-2008)
National Guard: Fossett search prolonged by Gibbons (6-25-2008)
Billable hours? (5-2-2008)
Now, it’s up to chance (9-22-2007)

Steve Fossett Challenges
Telegraph: Adventurer Steve Fossett 'may have faked his own death’ (7-28-2008)
The New York Times: Steve Fossett, Missing Adventurer, Is Declared Dead at 63

A Nevada Department of Public Services employee is helping interagency authorities at a command post in California's Mammoth Lakes in the search for adventurer Steve Fossett in the rugged backcountry near Mammoth Mountain.

At this time, California has not asked for any other assets from Nevada, said department spokesman Dan Burns.

Law enforcement agencies from Mammoth Lakes, Mono and Madera Counties, Calif., are mounting ground and air searches after papers and clothing possibly belonging to adventurer Steve Fossett were discovered on Tuesday.

However, authorities said that no wreckage of the single-engine airplane Fossett was flying has been found.

"We have not found a body or an aircraft yet," said Mono County Undersheriff Frank Benarad.

Both air and ground searches have begun, fanning out from the area where the items tied to Fossett have been found, Benard said.

A sporting goods salesman, Preston Morrow, had been hiking in the backcountry northwest of Mammoth Mountain on Monday and discovered identification cards with a photo and the name Steve Fossett, said administrative assistant Shannon Kendall of the Mono County Sheriff's Office.

Morrow found identification cards with Fossett's name on them, some clothing, including a sweatshirt, and $1,000 in cash half buried in mud and pine needles.

Police e-mailed a copy of the identification card to the Federal Aviation Administration, said Ian Gregor, agency spokesman.

While the license number, photo, date of issue, license type and address matched information on file for Fossett, the FAA is still investigating, Gregor said.

"We haven't seen it, we haven't felt it, but it looks like an FAA pilot's certificate," Gregor said.

Another card discovered belonged to the National Soaring Club, and the identification number traced back to Fossett, Burns said.

Fossett took off on Sept. 3, 2007, in a single-engine airplane owned by hotel magnate Barron Hilton.

Searchers scoured northern Nevada for months, but did not find a trace of the adventurer, who became the first person to circle the globe solo in a balloon and set soaring records.

The area where Northern California authorities is searching sits about 7,800 feet above sea level. It's about 125 miles west of the Hilton Ranch where Fossett took off.

Peggy Fossett, Fossett's widow, said in a statement issued by the family attorney, "We are aware of the reports and are trying to verify the information."

Discussion: 3 comments so far…

By azsk8fan

10/2/08 at 10:01 a.m.

Suggest removal

So who pays for this search - and if someone who wasn't a billionaire/millionaire went missing would the same amt. of taxpayers dollars be used to search for them? I doubt it.
By Low_IQ

10/2/08 at 11:02 a.m.

Suggest removal

azsk8fan "Master Of The Obvious?" of course they search for Fossett because he is "Somebody" a billionaire/millionaire if you wish? Why is it that people having a need to imply that all of us are "Equal"? We are not? "EVER!" the few of us who become famous or have value will be noticed among the many that do "Not". And that's the way it should be? There are many people who strive to just merely "Exist" and want unjust recognition for doing nothing? many find it unfair that no attention is given to them for doing "Little" or "Nothing" in life. We have become a society of mostly "Oblivious Idiots!" who mostly cry and moan, and do very little in their life to "Justify" their existence!
To tell you the truth its many things that bring this out in people, "Envy, Jealousy and Resentment" for their bottom place on the "Scale of Life".
So let's Review the facts;
We humans sometimes think of ourselves as all equally Intelligent, In a perfect world that might exist?, but here on earth it does not, as 99% of the population has an average I.Q. of 101 or less, To simplify and not get into the complexities of bell curves, data shows 90% of people have an I.Q. of 81 and below (an I.Q. of greater than 130 would be preferred), Forest Gump character had an I.Q. of 70 but he was a nice person, (so being not so smart but nice, I am OK with). (But being stupid and a "Bonehead", I am not OK with). When about 90 out of 100 people you meet are "Gumpish" and when personalities (Good & Bad) are mixed in, so we all seem to be surprised when people do and say "Stupid" things, statistically it's to be expected, and we all would like to believe that 90% of people are all equally smart, but that's just not true, and there are the exceptions of high I.Q. people doing evil stupid things.
Everywhere I go there is someone doing something stupid, on TV or on the road, it's everywhere.
Almost every TV show has an idiot that we make fun of and laugh at, the "Gilligan" of the show that we are aware of but at the same time oblivious too, We have most TV shows written at a 7th grade level or less?.
The only ones who don't know or could ever know are the "Stupid" people. I know it's not "politically correct" and many of you will be upset by my statement, but it will not change the truth of it all. (We all know that I.Q. is a rough measurement and not precise) but even if it gives you some basic numbers to work with, we can see we have a long way to go before we evolve into something on the high percentage of "Intelligence". That is why the masses can be so easily swayed by the media and religion.

I know I am not being "Politically Correct" in many of the things I say here but then again I try not to care about what people feel that is always up to them?,

I am a simple man of "Facts & Logic" I strive to better myself each day that I am here on earth because that is really the purpose of all who are here?
By azsk8fan

10/2/08 at 12:14 p.m.

Suggest removal

Simply put - if the guy has so much money let his estate pay to find him or his remains -

My mothers' favorite saying - "Rich or poor, when we (expletive for poop) it all stinks the same". Truer words were never spoken.