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Steve Fossett Missing
jd writes "Steve Fossett, the first person to fly a plane around the world without refueling, the first person to fly around the world in a balloon, and possibly the record-holder for the highest-altitude glider flight, is missing in Nevada. He is reported to have taken off in a light aircraft last night and has not been seen since. As he had filed no flight plan, would-be rescuers have no idea where to even begin looking. The plane took off from a private airstrip on a ranch at the south end of Smith Valley in western Nevada."
Did he fly over Area 51 or somewhere he shouldn't have?
Tibbon
tibbon.com
Aliens. Probably the same ones that took Earhart.
End of lesson. You may press the button.
The US Military denied claims that a UFO had been shot down last night over Area 51.
Find anything yet?
Nothing yet, sir.
Find anything yet?
Nothing yet, sir.
How about you?
We ain't found shit!
Then get off your ass and make a fortune and stop being a whiny little bitch. That might help.
Although the upcoming cold front is expected to create high winds this afternoon, conditions this morning were quite good. I hope that he was able to ditch in a survivable place, and pray for his safety.
That's where Douglas "Wrong Way" Corrigan ended up when he tried to fly from New York to California.
A legparnasom tele van angolnaval.
Perhaps he's in a secret valley somewhere, protected by a holographic screen, with other adventurers and industrialists, plotting a takeover of the world?
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
way to lay the pimp hand down !!!!!
+5 Keeping it Real
I'd start looking on the ground.
If moderation could change anything, it would be illegal.
Maybe he is trying to break the world record for the longest search party?
He's out in a single engine piston aircraft so if the motor went quiet, the only option would be to land.
In theory and from what I know of Nevada's geography, finding somewhere reasonable to put the plane down shouldn't be a big issue.
However, once down, he may be right up the middle of nowhere. You'd assume he'd just get on the radio but if it's an old Bellanca, there may be no battery power available, in a new Bellanca the fault that stopped the engine may also prevent the radio from working. Nevada's geography with raised ranges may block a radio signal in places and it may even be the case that he went out 'non-radio' as some pilots still do.
I do rather hope he's okay but the moral here is never go x-country without 'booking-out' first even if that means just telling your friend where you're going.
Ripping an new rectum in the fabric of spacetime.
Fossett may have been the first to fly SOLO around the world, but Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager flew round the world non stop without refueling in 1986.
Which gives him a good shot at safely landing the plane in an emergency. Unfortunately, if he lands in the middle of the desert, he might have a very hard time getting back to civilization before his water runs out. Also: it doesn't matter how good a pilot he is, if there was serious mechanical failure on that plane during flight he would have had to bring it down. There is no option.
His biggest mistake: not filing that flight plan. Huge *huge* fuckup.
Has anybody tried looking here?
Where? I get a 404: Place doesn't even exist error.
One of the other article says he took off flying a Citaborea, which means he was going up to do aerobatics because this is a quite slow airplane for anything else.... (NOTE: Citaborea means aerobatic spelled backwards). I do not remember him being an experienced aerobatic pilot, which is a considerably different skill than just being a pilot. Meaning, I feel I am a great pilot, but a not so good aerobatic pilot other than weather related recovery type turns. I would guess he probably got in a little over his head while doing aerobatics, and went down.
I hope this is not the case, but this type of thing is fairly common in the aerobatic world. Hence, the reason why they require the use of parachute(s)...
Last I saw him, some chick in a crotchless monkey suit had gotten him totally pissed and convinced him to rip the antenna off of his aircraft to roast wieners over the coals of The Man.
Sometimes boldness is in fashion. Sometimes only the brave will be bold.
Don't worry, him and 4400 others will reappear.
Nevada is not a giant dry lake bed.
As someone who has traversed just a tiny bit of the variety of off-highway terrain Nevada/Arizona/Utah/East California has to offer, I find it doubtful he could put it down safely. If he went due north, then it doesn't get any easier to land it.
Let's imagine for a minute he gets insanely lucky and lands without killing himself. He's exposed to some of the hottest, driest weather in the US. How much drinking water is in single-engine plane? How much water could he carry if he were crazy enough to consider walking out?
Got Trader Joe's? friendwich.com RSS feeds work now!
if you zoom in enough, you can see the wreckage.
Badass Resumes
Irony
5. an outcome of events contrary to what was, or might have been, expected.
6. the incongruity of this. Usage Note: The words ironic, irony, and ironically are sometimes used of events and circumstances that might better be described as simply "coincidental" or "improbable," in that they suggest no particular lessons about human vanity or folly. Thus 78 percent of the Usage Panel rejects the use of ironically in the sentence In 1969 Susie moved from Ithaca to California where she met her husband-to-be, who, ironically, also came from upstate New York. Some Panelists noted that this particular usage might be acceptable if Susie had in fact moved to California in order to find a husband, in which case the story could be taken as exemplifying the folly of supposing that we can know what fate has in store for us. By contrast, 73 percent accepted the sentence Ironically, even as the government was fulminating against American policy, American jeans and videocassettes were the hottest items in the stalls of the market, where the incongruity can be seen as an example of human inconsistency. Served.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
I am not an aviator, so I consulted Wikipedia and recalled the thing about flight plans.
They are required in IFR (i.e., bad weather). They are not required in VFR, but are a good idea, in case this sort of thing happens.
After taking 5 different small-craft flights in the last week (vacation), I noted that a flight plan was filed only once - in heavy traffic around Denali. Weather the rest of the time was good enough, and the flights short enough, to not require a flight plan. Plus there weren't any ATC towers in Homer, Chitina, or McCarthy.
Also, consider that Fossett may not have known where he was going even after the plane was in the air. He might just have wanted to spend some quality time in the air with his craft, flying wherever he wanted to go.
-Rob
Biblical fiscal responsibility
Fly over with a heat sensitive camera?
Here:
i ndex.html
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/04/fossett.missing/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6978818.stm
His profile is here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2078591.stm
This is my opinion. To make sure you don't steal it, it's covered by the DMCA.
It's obvious that he isn't human at all.
It's just that his vacation time ran out.
Exam 4/C again. Maybe I'll do better this time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citabria
First I heard it was "aerobatic" backwards.
I only read the linked article, it didn't say which Bellanca. Super Viking would have been a decent choice, but I'll check again for the linked articles.
A goal is a dream with a deadline
As mentioned by others, a flight plan is not required for VFR flight. There are reasons for this (and yes, they are debatable); but it is generally considered that even if they aren't required, they are wise. Statistically, you are found faster if you have one on file. The authorities are pretty good about tracking the overdue planes and initiating search and rescue. As somebody else mentioned, it is a good idea to at least check in with a family member before leaving and again when arriving. I call it, filing with Dad.
If you're not on a cross-country flight, a flight plan is not much use.
As for beacons, every airplane has an ELT (emergency locator transmitter) that sends a signal on 121.5Mhz. Satellites listen for that signal and are monitored by (I believe) the Air Force, which initiates search and rescue. The ELT is activated by an impact of 5 g's. Transient g-loads which build and dissipate very rapidly can inadvertently activate them at times. It's a dubious honor to have set one off with a hard landing. On the other hand, it's possible for the ELT to be damaged in an accident, or to lose the antenna for it in an accident, etc.
Mr. Fosset was a smart man, and obviously had filled fellow pilots/friends in on his intentions. They alerted search and rescue a few short hours after he intended to return. So, to say that his lack of a flight plan was a "huge fuckup" is perhaps a bit harsh. All the search and rescue efforts that would have been activated by the overdue flight plan are in fact, activated.
I wish him well. That's a hostile environment he is in.
Hot Damn! It's the Soggy Bottom Boys!
Screw Lindy...When denied a permit for a transatlantic flight because your hand-built airplane (cost 900 dollars) is deemed unflyable, make the flight anyway, and then claim you got "lost."
The guy made the flight with a couple of candy bars and a bottle of water, and a fuel leak inside the cockpit which he knew about before he left, but didn't fix because he didn't want to miss his flight window.
It's that fine line between bravery and stupidity; he lived, so he was brave.
ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
This aircraft is "capable" of aerobatics - even inverted flight (it's main edge over the Decathalon), but it's really just an extremely rugged hi-wing tandem.
A great Bush plane actually, I wouldn't assume he was going up to do aerobatics based upon that.
A goal is a dream with a deadline
Also known as "Cumulus Granite"
A goal is a dream with a deadline
It looks like Fossett may have gone down the drain. Water we going to do about it!? If we want to find him we may have to tap all our resources.
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it dissolve.
That's a loaded statement. There are plenty of things in the world more dangerous than a GA aircraft. For example: a motorcycle, a chainsaw, a lawnmower. GA aircraft have a slightly poorer record than cars in terms of fatalities per hour, and a much better record in terms of accidents per hour. The vast majority of GA accidents have little to do with the mechanical condition of the plane, and much more to do with stupid things done by the user (imagine that).
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
Depending on the type of single engine aircraft he would have
2 to 5 hours of duration.
An article suggests that he told a friend that he would return by noon.
He left at 9 A.M.
If he only took enough fuel to get to his waypoint and return then
his total expected duration would be 3 hours.
This means his expected outbound waypoint should be within 1.5 hours
of departure.
If he's flying something like a cessna 170, his top speed is ~140 MPH.
If we calculate for 160 MPH to take into account either foolhardiness
or massive tail wind, his maximum distance should be in a circular radius
of 240 miles.
From that information he could be almost anywhere in Nevada.
He could be in California. Or he may have made it as far as
Arizona, Utah, Idaho, or Washington.
It would be easiest to find him by reading his day-timer,
checking his old phone messages, looking in his car, and phoning
everyone he knows (friends/family/recent business) and mapping
their positions. Perhaps his most frequent destinations from previous
flight plans would also help.
This should reduce the search area substantially and possibly give
some insights into what he may have been doing/thinking when he left.
There doesn't appear to be any mention of technical details
regarding aircraft type, fuel purchase, or his heading after takeoff.
Yes he was. There were two in Voyager, so each only flew it half-way.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
Bearing in mind the guy might be dead, I find it a bit distasteful we're laughing about it.
He may or may not have been stupid or suicidal or whatever, but for the sake of his family, friends etc, can we stop making cheap fucking jokes about it.