Fossett search continues in Nevada

As the hunt continued Friday for Steve Fossett, missing since Sept. 3, 2007, a federal agency released a report stating that the famed aviator-adventurer was last seen in the search area flying less than 100 feet above the ground in a borrowed plane.

The National Transportation Safety Board report also notes the single-engine plane that Fossett, 63, borrowed from hotel magnate Barron Hilton had been in a minor landing-strip accident in May 2007 following an annual inspection a month earlier.

The NTSB report says the Bellanca Super Decathlon plane ran off a runway and into a barbed wire fence while landing. As a result of that mishap, the plane's propeller was replaced and its engine underwent another examination.

Before Fossett took off a year ago from Hilton's Flying M Ranch for what was to be a short pleasure flight, the report states that the Flying M's chief pilot confirmed the plane was full of fuel, and Fossett did a preflight check and reviewed engine-starting procedures.

The report also notes that a Flying M ranch hand saw the plane about nine or 10 miles south of the ranch, 2 1/2 hours after takeoff and an hour before Fossett was due to have lunch with Hilton, flying east "at an altitude of less than 100 feet."

The final confirmed sighting of the plane was near what now is the main camp of the 28-member team of explorers that started the latest search for Fossett on Aug. 23, with plans to continue until next Wednesday. The camp is near Hawthorne, about 130 miles south of Reno, Nev.

Robert Hyman, who organized the latest search effort, said a broad swath of rugged mountains, canyons and gullies has been checked but as the week drew to a close there still was no sign of Fossett or the plane.

The area, on the west slope of Nevada's Wassuk Range, dominated by towering 11,239-foot Mount Grant, was flown over repeatedly last fall in what was described as the largest aerial search for a downed plane in U.S. history. An extensive ground search also was made.

But Hyman and fellow search team leaders Lew Toulmin and Bob Atwater have said there's still a lot of land that didn't get close scrutiny.

Fossett was declared legally dead in February by a Chicago judge. The multimillionaire's widow, Peggy Fossett, has issued a statement supporting the latest effort, one of three private, self-funded searches this year. She spent $1 million on last year's search efforts. That's in addition to more than $1.6 million in Nevada government agency costs.

The latest team is relying on new information that altered earlier reports on Fossett's likely path over familiar territory. He had flown over the area many times since the mid-1990s and once hiked to the top of Mount Grant.

A local pilot who was flying over the area on Labor Day 2007, the same day Fossett vanished, confirmed that his flight path appeared to match a radar path previously believed to have been Fossett's.

The route initially prompted speculation that he had flown farther east, possibly circling around Mount Grant. But with the new information, the latest team has been able to focus on a smaller area to the west.

The current hunt is the largest since last year's massive efforts. Earlier this summer, a team headed by Canadian geologist and adventure racer Simon Donato spent a week looking for him.

A smaller search is being conducted by Mike Larson and Kelly Stephenson of Carson City, Nev. They have been riding ATVs and hiking on foot southwest of Hawthorne for several months on days off from work.

Fossett made a fortune trading futures and options on Chicago markets. He gained worldwide fame for more than 100 attempts and successes in setting records in high-tech balloons, gliders, jets and boats. In 2002, he became the first person to circle the world solo in a balloon. He was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in July 2007.

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On the Net:

The Explorers Club: http://www.explorers.org/

Steve Fossett Challenges: http://www.stevefossett.com