Steve Fossett missing in Nevada

Rescue teams are scouring tracts of Nevada in the hope of locating missing millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett, who took off on Monday in a single-engined aircraft to scout possible locations for a planned attempt on the world land-speed record, AP reports. Fosset took off at 8.45am on Monday from hotelier Barron Hilton's …

[Ralph B]

Who is John Galt?

I expect he's left for Galt's Gulch.

[Stephen Gazard]

what about an ELT?

In the US, when I was flying really basic planes, we all had ELT (Emergency locator transmitters) in the planes that would send out a signal if we crashed. It's usually picked up by a satellite and relayed on (see http://www.nss.gc.ca/site/cospas-sarsat/index_e.asp), so if he did crash he's going to be under some rock/in a crevasse/something similar.

It seems like he was forced down due to the weather conditions and might have broken his landing gear. Place that in a valley, and you have conditions for no radio signal. Given the winds I was seeing, it was no wonder he did not use the radio. If you've ever been out in high winds on a small aircraft, then you'll know that using the radio is pretty darn hard when you're going up/down 50 feet every 2-3 seconds and from time to time one wing jumps up while the other does not. This gets you at a 45 degree angle that's not always fun/easy to do while turning. People expect him to use the radio that is a little thing you need to hold down on one side? It's pretty hard under those conditions.

[Alan Donaly]

I've camped in nevada

It's rugged as it gets out there no water scorpions at night even if he survived a crash your not going to find him alive much after today. I doubt he lived through the crash though if it wasn't in tiny pieces a blue airplane probably would have been spotted by now.

[Raheim Sherbedgia]

Breaking News

Steve Fossett, Jim Gray, and Glen Miller were sighted covorting in a pub just outside Cresent City, CA. When asked what was happening Glen was reported to have said "get that fucking camera out of my face or I'm going to choke you with your shoelaces".

Then he fessed up that there was a secret land where rich and famous people went when they wanted to get away from the crap that is life in the Western World. We're all here Gray said. Bill [Gates] keeps applying to come but we haven't decided yet. The Unbuntu guy applied too but we declined his application because we don't like the name of his product.

[BigFire]

Re: ELT

Bear in mind that it's not his plane. He borrow it from the Hilton family and flew out of their private air strip. I'm not sure if a plane designed for aero-acrobatic (and not for actual transport) will have ELT installed.

[Michael]

thirteen?

"Thirteen search aircraft worked a grid pattern"

I wonder if 13 search aircraft would be used if it weren't a millionaire that were missing.

[Dick]

ELT

According to the Guardian:

Fossett's plane, a Bellanca Citabria Super Decathlon, had a locator device that sends a satellite signal after a rough landing, but no such signal had been received.

Fossett always wears a Breitling Emergency wristwatch that allows pilots to turn a knob and immediately signal their location, said Granger Whitelaw, a fellow pilot and a co-founder of the Rocket Racing League.

[Richard Hunter]

Area 51

is out there, he obviously saw something he shouldn't have and is now in an underground bunker with Elvis and the space aliens.

R.L. Hunter

[Colin Jackson]

Title

He has a modern locator device that uses satellites. The only way that it could be functioning but not sending a receivable signal is if he landed in a cave. If the plane was so badly damaged the ELT was disabled, then there's unlikely to be a happy outcome. On the whole, I can't think of any reasonable way he's going to turn out to be in good health. Shame.

[Chris Pasiuk]

I'm with Richard on this.

If he managed to fly a little too far south, he would have met up with a problem. Black helicopters with miniguns and a very convincing order to land on the long strip past the 2nd ridge. And with chopper emitting ECM, there's no signal that will get out no matter what device--vehicular or personal.

If you can't climb to the top of a ridge overlooking Area 51, what makes you think a puny aircraft will be allowed any closer? Besides, no flightplan, he's nuts in the first place. Nevada is checkered with controlled airspace not only due to the obvious Area 51 thing, but other military contractors that conduct missile testing and other research. Martin has a complex out that way as well with a test range.

He's cooling his heels in a stockade someplace. Because the place isn't supposed to exist, they also can't tell anyone that he's there either.