Hikers May Have Found Fossett Items

An Anonymous reader writes "CNN is reporting 'A weathered sweat shirt, cash and a pilot license with Fossett's name were found Tuesday near Mammoth Lakes, police Chief Randy Schienle said.' The license did not have a photo. '"We're not certain that it belongs to Steve Fossett, but it certainly has his name on the ID," Schienle said.'"

Comments

Re:Is this a plane?

[obidobi]

some more info here

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-fossett2-2008oct02,0,1608495.story

Re:It's a hoax, people.

[flyingsquid]

The CNN article misses some important details. According to the AP:

The information on the pilot license -- including Fossett's name, address, date of birth and certificate number -- was sent in a photograph to the Federal Aviation Administration, and all matched the agency's records, spokesman Ian Gregor said.

"We're trying to determine the authenticity of the document," Gregor said.

The hiker, Preston Morrow, said he found an FAA identity card, a pilot's license, a third ID and $1,005 in cash tangled in a bush off a trail just west of the town of Mammoth Lakes on Monday. He said he turned the items over to local police Wednesday after unsuccessful attempts to contact Fossett's family.

So our hoaxer forges 3 separate IDs, in one case getting all the original information that was on Fossett's FAA card, and adds $1005? That's one heck of a hoax. I suppose you could argue that's he's trying to get a reward from Fossett's rich widow for "finding" her husband's final resting place... but after he couldn't get ahold of the family's lawyers, he went to the police. Seems that would be the last thing a hoaxer would want to do, is get the police and authorities involved; I imagine forging federal IDs is a pretty serious offense. Doesn't make sense.

True, finding the contents of his wallet off on their own is odd... but animals are curious and like to chew on things, especially when they're hungry. In the middle of winter in the Sierra mountains, a bear or fox might decide that a leather wallet was better to eat than nothing and tear the wallet apart for a snack. Bears in particular will eat damn near anything, edible or not.

Re:A prank?

[Cowclops]

The other card and money are paper. Pilots licenses are made out of plastic. It wouldn't get wrinkled/dirty like a piece of paper.

headline/CNN care about the photo for no reason

[JimBobJoe]

It's funny both the slashdot summary and CNN note that the police said the pilot's license didn't have a photo.

For good reason. Pilots' licenses don't have photographs. I think the police there have never seen anything like it and are just plain perplexed.

Real breaking news

[kaos07]

Search crews have found some wreckage, apparently. No link because it's only a banner on CNN's website.

Re:Real breaking news

[dunezone]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/10/02/steve.fossett.search/index.html

Re:Some genuine news here.

[jd]

Just in: Wreckage has been reported near to where the items were found, but the exact location is being kept a closely-guarded secret. They're due to swarm into the area of the reported wreckage pretty much first thing tomorrow.

Re:It's a hoax, people.

[djupedal]

>They've already found wreckage [bloomberg.com], so this is basically a sure thing

Having actually searched for, and found, missing persons and aircraft wreckage on the ground in that general location in the Sierras, I can tell you that there are many more undiscovered crash sites than you might believe. The odds are good that it could be any of dozens of aircraft that have gone missing in recent years, including the one that carried Fossett, but not good enough to be a 'sure thing'. This is why they have to go in and make sure.