Fossett Missing, Air Search Intensifies

posted: 04 September 2007 05:50 pm ET

: On Sept. 4, 2007, a Swiss court found four employees of the Swiss air traffic control service Skyguide guilty of negligent homicide in the July 1, 2002 fatal collision of a Bashkirian Airlines Tupolev Tu-154 with a DHL Boeing 757 over southern Germany. The wreckage of the Tu-154 came to earth near the German town of Ueberlingen. Altogether, 71 people died in the crash, most of them children on board the Russian jet, which was flying them to a vacation in Spain. Credit: AP Photo/Christof Stache

More than a dozen aircraft are searching for record-holding aviator Steve Fossett, missing for more than 24 hours after Fossett took off in a light aircraft from a private airstrip in western Nevada on a flight that was supposed to last no longer than three hours.

Fossett took off at 9 a.m. PST on Monday from the Flying M Ranch airstrip 30 miles south of Yerington, Nev. on a flight to reconnoiter dry lakebeds in the vicinity that might be of use for an undisclosed future project, said Civil Air Patrol Maj. Cynthia Ryan in a press conference held on Tuesday at 1 p.m. PST.

Flying a borrowed Bellance Citabria Super Decathlon tandem two-seat taildragger registered N240R, Fossett was due to return to the Flying M Ranch airfield by Monday noon local time to leave Flying M for another destination in his own aircraft.

He flew in a southerly direction after taking off, Ryan said. She confirmed that Fossett had not filed a flight plan for his flight, but said this was nothing out of the ordinary for local flights from remote airstrips in lightly used airspace. The fact that no flight plan was filed suggested that Fossett planned to conduct his entire flight under visual flight rules.

When Fossett didn’t return in time for the planned flight, the Flying M Ranch used some of its own aircraft to begin searching for the adventurer, holder of 115 world records in five sports. By 6 p.m. Monday, when the unofficial search had failed to find Fossett, the airfield notified Nevada's Office of Emergency Management, which promptly began a search of the ramps of nearby airfields to make sure that Fossett had not landed at any of them, said Ryan.

The search was called off as darkness fell, but began again today at 7 a.m. PST. Along with ground crews, 13 aircraft from the Nevada Civil Air Patrol, U.S. Naval Air Station Fallon, the Nevada National Guard and the California Highway Patrol continued the search for Fossett and his aircraft, Ryan said. The search is being coordinated from the Air National Guard base at Minden, Nev.

When Fossett disappeared weather "conditions were optimal," said Ryan, with visibility of 10 miles and calm air or very light variable winds. However, conditions today in the search area, which is centered in an area that begins 30 miles south and east of the Flying M Ranch and extends no further than Bishop, Calif., are difficult for conducting a search by air.

Aircraft involved in the search are experiencing high winds and "moderate" turbulence, with crews searching at low altitudes likely to find their heads being banged on the ceilings of their aircraft, said Ryan. If the winds get any stronger the search may have to be called off for the day, said Ryan, who confirmed the authorities still see the search very much as a "rescue" mission.

Fossett's aircraft had an emergency locator transmitter (ELT) that would have been activated upon a hard landing, said Ryan. He also had "full radio capability," but made no radio contact with the Flying M Ranch after he took off on his flight. The aircraft he was flying had enough fuel for up to five hours of flying, though he planned his flight to last no longer than three hours.

The country over which Fossett was flying varied from flat salt beds often used to film car commercials to rugged mountainous terrain packed with deep gullies and narrow valleys. Fossett's aircraft was painted blue and white with orange stripes and sunburst patterns on the tops of its wings.

Ryan did not confirm if any signals had been received from the ELT in Fossett's aircraft, but said the authorities were following up on "some electronic data" that might provide clues to the location of Fossett and his aircraft.