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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.
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.
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?
Test your net with Netalyzr
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.
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.
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.
*sigh* More of this? You he's-alive-and-adopted-by-bears people are crazy nutjobs. It's the he's-alive-and-adopted-by-wolves people who have their fingers on the pulse of truth. Wake up!
The enemies of Democracy are
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.
I don't know what it is but the end result looks like controlled flight into the ground.
Yeah, I don't get the "statistically, dollars to donuts it was engine/fuel-related", because statistically, CFIT is a much more common cause of air accidents than engine or fuel problems. Fuel problems are actually one of the *least* likely causes, be it contamination, starvation or exhaustion.
There were reportedly clouds at around the altitude he'd have been flying at that day obscuring mountain peaks like this one. I think the most likely cause at this point is he was flying in a cloud and ran into the mountain. It happens, even to airliner pilots with sophisticated ground proximity warning systems. General aviation pilots usually have either no such equipment, or rudimentary ground avoidance equipment. I'm not sure what, if anything, his plane would have been equipped with, but even if it had such equipment, it wouldn't necessarily have been enough to prevent a CFIT accident.
Chevy Chase and the estate of Generalissimo Francisco Franco hold joint rights to that meme.
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.
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.
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.