[Hunted]

They have confirmed his plane has been found now...



Story

[chris]

Any info on his body ?

[Hunted]

not yet, according to the news clips that I've seen so far

[Hunted]

Tonight News......

NTSB: Remains found at Steve Fossett wreckage site

MAMMOTH LAKES, Calif. (AP) — Federal investigators said Thursday they found human remains amid the wreckage of missing adventurer Steve Fossett's airplane in the mountains of eastern California. The remains were found among a field of debris that stretched 400 feet long and 150 feet wide in a steep section of the Sierra Nevada.
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 said. "I'm not going to elaborate on what it is."
Fossett vanished on a solo flight in a single-engine Bellanca 13 months ago. The mangled debris of the plane was spotted in 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 searchers found enough remains at the site to provide coroners with DNA.
Searchers familiar with the mountainous wilderness noted the many coyotes and other wildlife in the area, and Madera County Sheriff John Anderson said: "It's quite often if you don't find remains within a few days, because of animals, you'll find nothing at all."
Fossett was 63 when he vanished on Sept. 3, 2007, after taking off from a Nevada ranch owned by hotel magnate Barron Hilton. The intrepid balloonist, pilot and all-around thrill-seeker was scouting locations for an attempt to break the land speed record in a rocket-propelled car.
Fossett's 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.
The rugged area, situated about 65 miles from the ranch, had been flown over 19 times by the California Civil Air Patrol during the initial search, Anderson said. But it had not been considered a likely place to find the plane.
Instead, 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.
Fossett made a fortune in the Chicago commodities market and gained worldwide fame for setting records in high-tech balloons, gliders, jets and boats. In 2002, he became the first person to circle the world solo in a balloon.
He also swam the English Channel, completed an Ironman triathlon, competed in the Iditarod dog sled race and climbed some of the world's best-known peaks, including the Matterhorn in Switzerland and Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
"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."

AP Link

[Hunted]

RIP

Investigators said they found human remains amid the wreckage of Steve Fossett's airplane in the mountains of eastern California, just over a year after the millionaire adventurer vanished on a solo flight. The remains were found among a field of debris that stretched more than 100 metres in a steep section of the Sierra Nevada, the National Transportation Safety Board said on 02 October 2008. The aircraft appeared to have hit the mountainside head-on. Most of the plane's fuselage disintegrated on impact, and the wreckage was strewn over several hundred metres

[kellyhound]

Just outside the initial search area.
Like they said he probably died at impact.

[chris]

Damn that sucks! Those are great pictures though.

[güttsfükk]

how long was he missing?

[chris]

a few weeks I think, but I could be wrong..

[firedog25]

GODDAMN YOU VOLKSWAGEN!!! GODDAMN YOUUUU!!!!!!!