Slashdot Mirror
Steve Fossett Declared Dead
Parallax Blue writes "Millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett, who risked his life seeking to set records in high-tech balloons, gliders and jets, was declared dead Friday, 5 months after he vanished while flying in an ordinary small plane. The self-made business tycoon, who in 2002 became the first person to circle the world solo in a balloon, was last seen Sept. 3 after taking off in a single-engine plane from an airstrip near Yerington, Nev., heading toward Bishop, Calif. He was 63."
From the sounds of it, Steve's wife wanted his last will and testament read and put into effect, and that's what prompted the ruling in the first place. CNN reported that "Judge Jeffrey Malak made the ruling after an emotional presentation from Fossett's wife of 38 years, Peggy, who also asked that her husband's will be entered into probate."
I came, I saw, She conquered.
If he was a gangster rapper you'd see people coming up with faked death theories with weird patterns in numbers related to his disappearance to give us all hope...
Unfortunately he was no gangster rapper, only a simple average white billionaire..
You just got troll'd!
He broke Mach 50 and turned into a neutrino?
As opposed to what? An extraordinary small plane? A fantastic small plane? A sub-par small plane?
Adjectives: You don't always need them.
This is no tragedy; we should be celebrating this man's life. We should all be as lucky to live such a full life, and die as old men under such circumstances. When most reach old age, they give up on life entirely. When your body begins to fail, it takes real courage to tempt fate on a regular basis.
I don't read or respond to AC posts
... with DB Cooper!
Three Squirrels
When he returns from China seven years later, after his ninja training, so he could fight crime in the streets as a billionaire super-hero.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
from Stand By Me:
Vince Desjardins: I'll tell you how they're gonna find him. Ten years from now, some hunter's gonna go in the woods to take a leak, wind up pissing on his bones.
Charlie Hogan: I bet you a thousand bucks, they'll find him before then.
Eyeball: Bet you two thousands dollars, they don't.
Charlie Hogan: Well, asshole...
Billy Tessio: Hey, what's the big deal? Who cares?
Ace: Will you two just shut the fuck up? If either of you assholes had two-thousand dollars, I'd kill you both.
It makes you realise just how utterly huge this place is, if someone and their entire light aircraft can just disappear in a matter of minutes. Reminds me a lot of this case:
http://iroc305.tripod.com/id53.htm
It's spooky, really, but I have to think that there'll be a Slashdot story in a few years about how his bones and his plane were found using new Google Maps Streetview - Desert Edition.
It amazes me, especially living in the area of endless urbania that is the Greater L.A. area, that there are still uninhabited areas so vast that a plane could crash and not be found after exhaustive searching with high-tech equipment.
Then again, there is an almost-intact crashed plane near the western (Highway 190) entrance to Death Valley, near Towne Pass, that's in plain view of the highway yet almost impossible to see unless you know what you are looking for. It crashed in the 50s; it was part of a CIA mission and lost power over the Amargosa Valley. The crew bailed out near Furnace Creek, if my memory serves me correctly, then the plane crashed in the Panamint Range to the west.
Some pics from someone who hiked to the site: http://rides.webshots.com/album/292358776FDMVRo
After seeing that on one of my outings, Fossett's plight isn't so incredible to me. Sucks to be him, but he certainly didn't live a hard knocks life prior to his demise.
How do we shut off tags?
Right under this story I see a tag of "whogivesafuck."
That's just not acceptable.
Whoever tagged this article "whogivesafuck" should turn in their human card at the door. Sure, you may not have known this guy personally, but that tag is in really poor taste. How would you like it if after someone you knew died, someone came up to you and said "he's dead. so what?".
Rhymes that keep their secrets will unfold behind the clouds.There upon the rainbow is the answer to a neverending story
...people say "he died doing what he loved". No pilot loves crashing a plane. Whatever had gone terribly wrong at the end of Steve's last flight, I can guarantee you he was not loving it. I'd bet that the first emotion that he felt was anger at whatever caused the initial deviation from normal flight, followed by shock and apprehension in the final seconds once he realized he was in serious trouble.
Fortunately I have never been in such a dire predicament while behind the controls of a plane, the worst that's happened to me was a partial loss of power after takeoff during climbout in a C172, but I had plenty of altitude and an airport right behind me in easy gliding distance in case the engine quit completely, but I landed normally without incident. I can tell you I was certainly NOT loving it, and the emotion going thru my head was that I was pissed off at the airplane.
Two pilot friends of mine have died in small plane crashes, both due to making really stupid errors in judgement. As they drilled their respective planes into the dirt, they were not doing what they loved either. Both of them took friends and family members to their deaths with them too.
This tag marks a new low on slashdot.
Maybe the tagger is just jealous, because this man did the right thing with all his money. Instead of attending stupid show-off parties, he used his money to make his dreams become reality.
Crivens! I kicked meself in me own heid!
The other day I was reading about the littany of Mr. Fossett's achievements. In an age where records are set and fall with each of our ephemeral 15 minutes of fame, Mr. Fossett managed to do something truly extraordinary: become a legend. The moment Fossett vanished, I was in the air in my Cherokee not 100nm from his departure field. It was a mundane day of flying, if any day spent rattling around two miles in the air in an over-sized beer-can pulled by a 1920's tractor motor over the least hospitable terrain in the lower-48 can be called 'mundane'. The Nevada desert has an amazing way of making a man seem both profoundly alone and free, regardless of the technology within he wraps himself. That day of flying will forever be seared into my mind. In a world of mundane, Steve Fossett successfully made the transition from mere mortal to legend. His records and legacy stand so tall that the stories of his achievements will inspire my children's children alongside the stories Earhart and Lindberg. And yes, while a mourn the loss of the man (and I do keep a guilty hope that he's just chilling down in the Bahama's somewhere, enjoying his retirement), It was the legendary ending to the story of legendary achievement: something to celebrate and honor, not mourn and regret. Thank you Steve Fossett. Rest In Peace, you've earned it.
Sure it's acceptable. People die. I can only know so many people personally, and the ones that I don't know personally don't matter terribly much to me. That's human nature - you can't empathize with 200 million people that you don't know, and when some of them die, why should you feel anything in particular? I suppose intellectually I have some regret that the world lost a good adventurer perhaps, but that's about it.
From low-end to top of the line in this model series:
(1) Champ
(2) Citabria (various versions)
-----> (2.5) Scout line derived from Citabria airframe to become bush-plane line.
(3) Decathlon
(4) Super Decathlon
Steve was flying the top of the line model, though the Scout probably would've been a better choice of a plane for the particular mission Steve was flying, if he would have had one available.
Story must be wrong..seen after takeoff? Should it not be seen just before takeoff? its about like stating that we just saw Bill gates kiss Linus..
Fred Grott(aka shareme) http://mobilebytes.wordpress.com
You have no right to not be offended but you do have the right to avoid, dismiss, or speak-out against things that offend you. That being said, the tags should not be censored because they bother you. Someone out there obviously does not give a fuck about this event and they have every right to express that opinion. Deal with it. If someone is really so emotionally immature or weak that they find this terribly upsetting, they have other problems that society cannot and should not try to accommodate.
"However, knowing others (even complete strangers!) sympathize and wish you the best *does* help a lot."
No, not really. If a complete stranger or someone I barely knew pretended (or even genuinely offered) sympathy at the death of my grandmother, I'd tell them to fuck off. They didn't know the person in question and anything beyond a 'oh, sorry to hear' is offensive display of empathy for someone they didn't know.
Respect and empathy for the dead are two different things. While going to a funeral and laughing or spitting on the headstone are clearly offensive behaviors, the honest opinions of slashdot readers reflected in the tags are not.
This is all part of the plan to have Steve show up on ABC's LOST as one of the survivors in the background.
too soon, too soon
Can I bum a sig?
I am surprised that no one mentioned ELTs (emergency locator transmitter). Having an installed and functional ELT is a requirement for cross country travel. One commenter said the plane was a Bellanca. I wonder if an aerobatic pilot would turn off his ELT to avoid nuisance trips when doing aerobatics and forget to turn it back on. Most ELTs are getting kind of old. Like 20 to 30 years installed in the plane. What kind of reliability can you expect from a radio that old after a hard crash ?
Of course, Ed would have trouble finding his tv remote. But he's made a lot of money fooling people!
Why is Fossett's wife in a rush to declare that her husband is dead?
Acceptance of the things we cannot change is the key to true maturity and enlightenment. If you have a problem with that, then grow up. In our lifetime people will never care about the death of somebody they've never heard of.
Yes, he did die doing what he loved. And, in memory, a pilot's poem he would no doubt have known well.
High Flight
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious, burning blue,
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.
Pilot Officer Gillespie Magee
No 412 squadron, RCAF
Killed 11 December 1941
I will offer a toast to night to all of the man's achievements, as I have done for the individual ones.
I had hoped for the longest time to hear on the news that he'd finally dragged himself out of the wilderness with yet another epic tale to tell.
It seems a lot of people who are known for risking their lives are dying doing pretty normal things... a man who rides high-tech experimental aircraft to world records died crashing a normal single-engine plane. An adventurer who spent his time mostly around horribly dangerous animals was killed by what was supposed to be a completely harmless stingray. There was another recent example I remember but I don't remember the specifics. It's kind of wierd, although I know there's no connections or anything
ADVENTURERS! - ANTIHERO FOR HIRE - CARDMASTER CONFLICT
I remember a show featuring a researcher debunking the myth of the Burmuda Triangle and how ridiculous it seemed that people would be surprised that so many planes could disappear over water.
He had worked on the "disappearance" of several WWII era planes that went undiscovered for 50-60 years, despite being on land in quite populated areas of Europe.
The world is big. There are lots of place for stuff to get lost.
Why is Fossett's wife in a rush to declare that her husband is dead?
Because it's probably pretty hard to run an estate of a billionaire without the guy being dead. Even billionaires have bills to pay.
AccountKiller
that wife asked him to be declared dead shortly before they began searching for him.
i have this feeling that she probably rigged his death, and now wants his money
Chris Date is far more of an authority on databases than Jim Gray is. To call Jim gray the leading authority is very misleading.
Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only proved it correct, not tried it.
...when BSD finally kicks.
Heartless bastards.
It's only about the fucktard Steve Fossett and how he rightfully earned himself a Darwin Award.
N/T
Steve?
That Bastard has been dead to me for years.
While I don't give a fuck either, I think the sentiment being echoed by others is that if you really don't give a fuck, then just move on and go comment on another story. The fact that people go out of their way to declare emphatically that they don't care is a bit sociopathic.
Not half as much psychological stress as if the dead guy actually shows up...
Wife: Gee Steve, you're dead! ... I knew you'd come home.
... well, sorry about the worms, and the smell - being dead is a bit of a drag.
...
...
... damn - your OTHER ear just dropped onto the carpet - and I just had all the carpets cleaned!
Steve: Yep. Been that way for a while. Nice to know you were waiting for me.
Wife: Well of course I waited for you, darling
Steve: Yeah
Wife: Cheer up. Now that you're back, we can have your funeral.
Steve: I don't *want* a funeral!
Wife: Back in the box!
Steve: I don't *want* a funeral!
Wife: We have to, Steve. What would the neighbours say?
Steve: I don't *want* a funeral!
Wife: Steve, try to understand. The dog just tried to bury you in the back yard
Steve: I don't *want* a funeral!
Wife: You've just being selfish!
Steve: I don't *want* a funeral!
Wife: Well, you're getting one. So pull youself together - your arm just fell off!
Steve: I don't *want* a funeral!
Wife: Its either that or we nail you to that Lazy-Boy and you do an imitation of a Norweigan Blue pining for the forests!
Steve: I don't *want* a funeral!
Wife: You're DEAD, Steve! Put your eyeballs back in their sockets and try to see things my way.
Steve: I don't *want* a funeral!
Wife: Steve - you have a squirrel living in your ribcage! You have mold for a brain!
Steve: I don't *want* a funeral!
Wife: Look, how about if instead of a burial, we get you a nice sterile cremation? We can then put your ashes in a cannon and you can go out with a bang
Steve: I don't *want* a funeral!
Wife: Steve - you're not hearing me
Steve: I don't *want* a funeral!
Wife: Can you say anything else except "I don't want a funeral?"
Steve: C'est Bon des Pop-Tarts!
Has Netcraft confirmed this?
It's a bit humbling to think that even in this day and age, it's still possible for a plane to disappear in the middle of one of the most advanced countries on the planet and the combined resources of governments and enthusiastic hobbiests cannot find any trace of it.
haven't known someone who died very slowly and very painfully. Many many people die that way.
"And if the death of someone I loved was reported on Slashdot, "who gives a fuck" would be an entirely appropriate tag. More than that - it would be rather creepy if you DID give a fuck. Displays of public grief for people we do not know, but with whom we pretend an intimacy to which we are not really entitled are distasteful and should always be challenged."
Distasteful? Should always be challenged? That's horseshit spewed by (typically rightwing) faux-Nitzschean morons who believe that any public display of emotions other than, oh, sarcasm and hatred is "weak" and cowardly.
It's not "pretending an intimacy" to be affected by the death of someone whom you didn't know personally, but whose work and/or creativity touched your life -- whether it's John Lennon, John F. Kennedy, Carl Sagan or Jacques Cousteau (who inspired me to learn about oceanography.) When Cousteau died, I didn't beat my breast or wail in public, but I was bummed out that day, and I expressed it to people, and I had a goddamn right to.
It's pretty pathetic -- if not outright sociopathic -- when the mere expression of basic human emotions like sadness, compassion and (gasp) empathy are regarded as "distasteful."
And for the record, I'm friends with some folks who spent 30 exhausting days personally looking for Steve Fossett on the ground and from the air, and who know his widow, who's been through hell the last 5 months. So people making jokes about his death can kindly fuck off.
Ah, here we go again with the "I share one thing in common with this person, therefore I can tell you what he (and all others) would have been thinking and feeling".
I'm not a pilot, but I have been in some scary situations when rock climbing. And I can tell you from experience that just about everybody has a different reaction to such situations. Some of us are adrenaline junkies, and say "whoa, holy shit, what a fall! that was awesome! I'm glad I skipped work today! MORE!". Others go for the view or the accomplishment, and say "whoa, holy shit, what a fall! that sucked, I should have gone to the office today. I'm going home". And just about everything in between.
If I die at 63 while rock climbing, after a lifetime of climbing *half* as awesome as Fossett's flying career, I will die happy. There's no other way. If you love going out and doing it, then even a bad day is better than a good day sitting at a desk -- it's the flying or climbing that drives you, not climbing back in bed when you stop. And if you back off enough that you're always perfectly safe in everything you do, there's a limit to what you can accomplish. Those of us who live for the thrill wouldn't trade it for anything.
Before you say that I'm crazy, I think that *you're* crazy. Being "pissed off at the airplane"? That makes no sense at all. It seems downright dangerous to be so emotionally caught up in assigning blame at a time like that. (When you watch any action movie, the person who does this always dies.) Yamamoto Tsunetomo wrote that every morning, you should meditate on being dead. I don't go quite that far, but I do think that if you're truly living in the moment (as I'm sure Fossett was), you wouldn't be thinking accusatory thoughts about the airplane. He was probably thinking "oh, there goes the engine. OK, let's solve it!". Programming is the same way: the worst programmers I know yell at their computers "damn you, not another bug!", while the best calmly say "hmm, another bug? I wonder what caused this...".
As a person, I hate it when somebody claims to understand how a person they've never met would feel, based on one attribute they have in common.
With all those billions you'd think he would have atleast one on every plane he flew. Backup plan man, where was it?
I still think he was abducted by aliens. You can't just disappear like that in planes, especially in the Nevada desert.
They're spit roasting Nina Reiser.
How dare!!
I am NOT Dead!
If you plan to jump out of a plane, you check your parachute. But every time you drive, do you check your tires? Why not? The potential consequences are the same if your equipment fails.
The reason is that it takes far too much effort to be afraid of everything, so most people just try to take care of the really big things, then work their way down the list if the opportunity is there. It could easily be argued that he could afford to have his plane inspected regularly and not worry about it himself, but there is a reason most people die in terribly anticlimactic ways. That is because we spend so much of our lives doing anticlimactic things, and many of them entail some degree of risk whether we choose to think about it or not. The law of averages says even people who take risks will often die in totally unspectacular ways.
Sure we're not all going to die in a blogging accident, but I don't know anyone who thinks "I have to drive to work today, I had better make sure my will is in order". Not even in Los Angeles, just after it rains for the first time in months. After rolling the dice and surviving so many times before, why should today be any different?
Mal-2
How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.