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Fossett's Plane Found
otter42 writes "Sadly, it looks as if all those crazies claiming Steve Fossett was still alive were wrong after all. The NY Times has the confirmation that wreckage of Fossett's Bellanca Citabria was found. Now it's up to the NTSB to tell us why this happened, although, statistically, dollars to donuts it was engine/fuel-related."
No body was found, and was purportedly "eaten by animals". Conspiracy theories live on!
Steve, being a sailplane pilot would have less trouble with engine issues than most power pilots. And on the lea side of the Sierras you can glide an very long distance east provided the rotor turbulence does not get you.
Last I heard, they were saying he appeared to have hiked at least a half kilometer from the crash site, to where his cash and ID were found.
This isn't to say that he isn't dead now, or that someone else found the crash site and (for reasons unexplained) took his ID and a grand in cash from it, then hid them where the hiker later found them, but the simplest explanation is that he survived the crash.
So the fact that they found the plane does not automatically make anyone claiming he is alive "crazy".
--MarkusQ
At that high an altitude, if you get clouds/ fog, you can run into a mountain at 10,000 feet, even if you're a good pilot ( who forgot to check his map).
NTSB said that the wreckage looked like high velocity impact, with little chance of survival.
I don't know what it is but the end result looks like controlled flight into the ground.
Fossett was a very good pilot. An engine failure at altitude would have given him enough time to send out a distress call unless he was very close the ground when it happened. So maybe but it could have been any number of things. From the report of the crash it sounds like it hit hard and fast.
For the family this is probably a relief since now they can have some closure hopefully.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
Now it's up to the NTSB to tell us why this happened, although, statistically, dollars to donuts it was engine/fuel-related.
Dollars to donuts the CRASH was gravity related...the engine/fuel is just a side problem!
What are the random internet nutcases right about anymore?
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It took them this long to find the plane because they had to fake up a wreck!
They're saying that the damage looks like he flew straight into the side of the mountain and that it was extremely unlikely that it was a survivable impact.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/10/02/steve.fossett.search/index.html
Shop smart, Shop S-Mart.
The day Steve Fossett was lost I was driving from San Francisco
to Las Vegas by way of Barstow. Just after Barstow we entered one of those huge desert storm systems, a line of thunderheads
stretching North and South, and all of a sudden it rained so hard
and the wind blew so hard that it was hard controlling the car,
even when we slowed to 20 MPH. Soon after we left the storm, I
heard about the disappearance of Steve Fossett on the radio.
I have been convinced ever since that moment that that storm
killed him. I cannot see how a light aircraft could have flown
through it, and yet it came up pretty suddenly. Looking at the
map, I might still be right.
As mentioned in another post, as best as I can tell from the news articles, this is a Google Earth view of the area he went down. The Minaret Lake area is where the hiker found his ID and money, and the Minaret Peak is near where his plane hit.
Love many, trust a few, do harm to none.
that someone else found the crash site and (for reasons unexplained) took his ID and a grand in cash from it, then hid them where the hiker later found them
My guess would be that "someone" would have been something like a raccoon or a buzzard.
I think it is becoming clearer that Fossett survived the crash, and was shortly adopted by a bear, and is currently living in a cave, having forgotten his human status due to traumatic brain injury.
Maybe you need to stop being so dismissive of people who think he is still alive.
It's an all-too-common occurrence in aviation. It even occurs to big, commercial flights. For example, Eastern Airlines flight 401 (in 1972).
By all accounts his plane was equipped with an ELT and a radio. Presumably he would have used one or both if an engine failure or other mechanical problem occurred and he had some time while gliding.
The reports are not saying that he hiked that distance, but that his ID was found that distance away from the crash site. In an area with plenty of wildlife, there are many other ways his ID could have been transported that distance, besides him surviving the initial crash.
I, like many of us, participated in that mechanical turk thing a few days after the crash to try to find his airplane in satellite photos. Did we cover that area? I kind of hope not.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
My guess would be that "someone" would have been something like a raccoon or a buzzard.
That certainly explains why when I'm killing rats and spiders they keep dropping gold and broadswords.
As someone that's hiked that area long ago, when they mentioned the search would begin on the John Muir Trail between Dorothy and Shadow Lakes. That is a *heck* of a lot of VERY rugged forest area above 8000ft. It's not like there's a long snow-free time up there, or a whole lot of people at any given time either.
That they were able to find the wreckage is awesome. That's one great reason why we pay taxes people.
Prior searches focused on land east of the Glass Mountains. Another *huge* area.
As an FYI, the area has all kinds of omnivores. I can't see how a pilot could survive that either. There's no place to land a plane! Let's say he does the TV-movie thing and tried some kind of bail out. Bailing out, much less walking out without intimate knowledge of the area are both very low probability events in that region.
You guys should get out more, especially the conspiracy nuts. It's a beautiful area of our country. If that's too far away, visit a nearby National Park.
http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
Rusty Aimer, chief executive of Aviation Experts
I hope this guy doesn't own a gun... get it?
I remember that about 25 years ago in Alaska we had a number of cases where the Citabria would crash because a wing came off. (And the Citabria was supposed to be aerobatic-certified aircraft. It just wasn't rugged enough for bush flying.) As I understand it, an AD was issued that should have corrected all the defects, but just knowing the problem existed is enough to dismiss early conclusions as to the reason behind the crash.
"The mind works quicker than you think!"
.
They had been married forty years.
She surely knew how his life was likely to end:
In college at Stanford University, Fossett was already known as an adventurer; his Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity brothers convinced him to swim to Alcatraz and raise a banner that read "Beat Cal" on the wall of the prison, closed two years previously. He made the swim, but was thwarted by a security guard when he arrived. Steve Fossett
Images of Grand Theft Airplane: Inyo National Forest. Poor dude getting jacked at 10,000 ft.
The world is made by those who show up for the job.
Is it just me or does the wife seem really really indifferent. Here is the possbility her husband's remains have been found, and she's "monitoring the situation"?
Sounds to me like she told a newsie vulture to go away and leave her alone.
(I'm reminded of the school shooting in Oregon, where the news media descended like a cloud of buzzards and the students told 'em to go to hell - going so far as to moon them from a school bus.)
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
So true, just like when they found Amelia Earhart's plane last year. Major news outlets didn't think it was newsworthy enough to run the story at all.
Mammoth Lakes is about 10,000 feet, or 30,400 meters, above sea level, and snow makes already difficult terrain largely impassable and could bury plane wreckage.
It was the deadly Cumulo-Granitus cloud.
None of them can see the clouds; The polished wings don't care.
Thank you Captain Obvious! You have saved the day again!
See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
Chevy Chase and the estate of Generalissimo Francisco Franco hold joint rights to that meme.
He didn't save the plane.
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
He pushed the envelope in sailing and flying, setting more than 100 records. He was also active with the Boy Scouts at the national level, even heading up the National Eagle Scout Association. He set the bar very high, and inspired thousands, maybe millions. His money was incidental, though it helped him to set those records. It's just the kind of person he was. That's why so many people care about it.
You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
Mammoth Lakes, CA
Week of Sept 2, 2007
No precipitation.
http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KMMH/2007/9/3/WeeklyHistory.html
See the radar loop from that date by using the link in the Radar Archive box near the bottom-right of this page:
http://www.wunderground.com/radar/radblast.asp?ID=HNX®ion=c1&lat=37.65124893&lon=-118.98217010&label=Mammoth%20Lakes%2C%20CA
Dare to Hope. Prepare to be Disappointed.
And thus I say unto you: Poof! http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/aviation/SAR/ELT_History.htm However, ELT's frequently fail to be of any use, as they are often too damaged in the crash to send a full-strength signal or sometimes even operate at all.
Right, based on the NOTAM the center of the no-fly zone is at 37.658889N,119.125556W.
You know, you don't have to click "Read More", then "reply" then type out two sentences if the article doesn't interest you. Go on to the next article if you don't care.
If the rule is the same as it was when I was flying, you can go above 10,000 feet to a maximum of 12,000 feet without oxygen for a maximum of 1/2 hour. Otherwise stay below 10,000. I was a passenger in a 172 on VFR when the pilot, an experienced Viet Nam helicopter vet with several thousand hours, went to near 12,000 to get above some clouds for a few minutes. The effect was noticeable almost immediately. We zipped back down through a hole in the clouds pretty quickly (fortunately). He mentioned that had his brother been flying (who owned the plane) "he would have gone underneath the whole way." at about 3,000 feet where the weather was crappy. Well, Yeah!! I would have, too! 3,000 feet when you can actually SEE the ground is a good thing! (Note: Viet Nam era helicopter pilots are crazy bastards. No fear.)
How about a moderation of -1 pedantic.
That reminds me of the Far Side cartoon where the pilot (looking out the wind shield) says to the copilot:
"Say, what's a mountain goat doing way up here in a cloud bank?"
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/10/02/steve.fossett.search/index.html MAMMOTH LAKES, California (CNN) -- A small amount of human remains has been found in the wreckage of the plane that adventurer Steve Fossett was flying when he disappeared last year, a National Transportation Safety Board official said Thursday.