Adventurer Steve Fossett Missing ...

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Adventurer Steve Fossett missing in US, search underway
4 hours ago

LOS ANGELES (AFP) — A massive search was under way over the mountains of Nevada on Tuesday after a plane flown by multi-millionaire world aviation record holder Steve Fossett went missing, officials said.

Fossett, famous for flying solo around the world by balloon and airplane, has not been heard from since taking off from a private airstrip near Yerington, west Nevada, around 9:00 am (1600 GMT) Monday, officials said.

The 63-year-old adventurer's family raised the alarm after Fossett failed to return in his single-engine Bellanca plane, Federal Aviation Administration officials told AFP.

"We were issued an alert due to family concern after aviation adventurer Steve Fossett ... failed to return after departing from M Ranch, a private airstrip in Yerington, Nevada," FAA spokesman Hank Price told AFP.

Fossett's office was not immediately available for comment.

The FAA said Fossett had not lodged a flight plan before take-off, possibly complicating efforts to locate him.

"If conditions are fine and there is likely to be no contact with air traffic control it is not necessary to file a flight plan," the FAA's Western US spokesman Ian Gregor told AFP.

Civil Air Patrol spokeswoman Major Cynthia Ryan said Fossett had been expected to return about three hours after the flight, which she described as a "a little excursion."

"He had more than enough fuel on board, so that should not have been an issue," she added.

Ryan said a total of 13 aircraft had been scrambled in the search for Fossett's plane, which was equipped with a satellite tracking system. She did not reveal if the device had indicated Fossett's whereabouts.

The search area covers hundreds of square miles of rugged terrain, making low-level search efforts fraught with hazards, officials said.

Fossett made the first solo nonstop, non-refueled circumnavigation of the world in 67 hours in the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer.

In 2002, he was the first person to fly solo around the world in a balloon.

A multi-millionaire who made his fortune dealing stocks in Chicago, Fossett has spent the past two decades chasing world records and shattering them, sailing, floating and flying faster and farther than anyone before.

In 2006, the millionaire touched his aircraft down at an airfield on Britain's south coast, setting the record for the longest solo, non-stop, non-refueled flight in terms of distance.

Pushing his flying skills and physical endurance to the limits, Fossett guided his Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer some 42,000 kilometers (26,000 miles) around the world despite a gas leak at take-off and dangerous wind shifts.

Fossett has also set dozens of world records in sailboats, gliders and hot-air balloons.

A tireless athlete, Fossett has also swum the English Channel, raced in the Ironman Triathlon and has run in the grueling 1,165 mile (1,887-kilometer) Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race across Alaska.

He competed in the 24-hour Le Mans auto race as well.

Fossett has set more than 100 world records in five sports, of which 62 remain unbroken, and he told AFP in 2005 that he planned to carry on.

"There's no reason to stop," he said. "What I do will change -- when I'm 90 years old I can imagine sending a remote-controlled airplane around the world."

Fossett is also no stranger to brushes with death.

He has survived numerous near-misses and harrowing crash landings over the years, including a 29,000-foot (9,000-meter) plummet into the Coral Sea off Australia because of a storm-shredded balloon.

Born in California, Fossett attended Stanford University before obtaining an MBA from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.

Fossett has received numerous awards for his exploits, including the Gold Air Medal from the Federation Aeronautique Internationale, the US Sailing Association's 2001 Yachtsman of the Year and a Distinction in Exploration from the National Geographic Society.

[link to afp.google.com]