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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
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!
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.
Aliens abudcted a racecar driver?
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.
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?
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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
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.
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.
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.
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.