Okay, where's Fossett?

[dd74]

1) Did he truly crash?
2) Is this some sort of bizarre publicity stunt?
3) Has he become the victim of an alien abduction? (he was supposedly near Roswell)
4) Is he reinventing himself as the new Howard Hughes?
5) Did Branson bump him off?


Where the heck are you, Steve?

[slodave]

He was flying an aerobatic plane, covered in canvas. I hope he alright, but it doesn't look good.

Dave

[charleskieffner]

first being familiar with the minden area, from riding dirty bikes, its basin and range country. a few ranches here there and not much else.

second he was flying citabria. one of our company pilots based in minden and a very accomplished alaskan bush pilot, augered in with one. NTSB report, pilot error.

third, his plane was equipped with an EPIRB.(emergency positioning indicating radio beacon) these will activate upon "G-FORCES" emitted by plane impacting immoveable object ie. the earth.

4th EPIRB has NOT BEEN ACTIVATED! so that means either a faulty EPIRB or he landed on all three(3) wheels.

5th if he landed right side up in a rural area, wouldnt he pull the pin on EPIRB to show his position???????

6th the guy was very adept at survival skills. wouldnt he light a tire on fire or build a fire to indicate his position?????

my angle..........faulty EPIRB and he augered in at warp speed.

or hes hanging with ELVIS!

[onewhippedpuppy]

That was my thought Charlie, what happened with the emergency beacon? If he crashed it should have activated. If not, he could have activated it. Being the desert, he could have fairly easily made a controlled landing in the event of a mechanical failure. Plus, the guy is an accomplished pilot. Just a strange situation. It would be a shame to see him go, there's not many modern adventurers who have done what he has.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Sadly, I think Branson is right - he's probably injured someplace - possibly severely enough to avoid helping himself.

A person will only last a couple of days in the desert - especially given how hot it's been. I hope he turns up soon.

[legion]

Is he the guy with the red and white striped hat and the cane and glasses?

[motion]

I'll be really bummed if we lose him. Not too many adventure heroes left in the world these days. But I guess this is as good a way as any for someone like Steve to bow out.

[Jeff Higgins]

Hate to say it, as I really admire the guy, but it is either a cheap publicity stunt or he has already been processed through a few of the local coyotes. He sure doesn't need the publicity, so...

[charleskieffner]

put alot of miles on dirty bikes in there. when you climb in elevation you go from dez to pinyon to actual pine forest.

lots of lightning fires that BLM just lets burn natural in the pines. rode thru quite a few.

a plane crashing in the pines is difficult to see from the air. unlike dez terrain a little easier.

if he did auger in to rock boulder area w/any speed, debris will be small.


if you disagree please look up what happened to a B-17 on top of san francisco peaks outside flagstaff,az. when it impacted years ago w/all aboard killed. biggest piece of wreckage was parts of engine cylinders left over.

so as usual its a needle in a haystack search.


now...............just think what the USCG gets to go through when searching for one (1) teensie innsi head bobbing in the great big giant ocean!!!!!!

FILE A FLIGHT PLAN.............OR PLAN YOUR DIVE................DIVE YOUR PLAN! its a scuba thang.

[john70t]

Fosset is the modern version of Lindbergh/Earhardt/Yeager's. Definitely a breed apart and an inspiration to all.

Here's to hoping he only had a problem that ended with a soft landing in the sand.

[304065]

I used to own a Citabria 7KCAB, hell of an airplane.

Fossett was in a Super Decathlon 180 hp, called an 8KCAB-180, same airframe as a Citabria but with a symmetrical wing and a 180 HP engine with a constant-speed prop. It was manufactured in 1980.

As far as I know it's only required to carry an ELT, which broadcasts on 121.5 MHz a "whoop-whoop-whoop" tone. It doesn't carry any position information from GPS and doesn't broadcast on sat frequencies like an EPIRB (406 MHz). Chuck is right, there is an inertia switch which basically consists of a pendulum touching a toggle switch on the ELT. When you hit HARD, the pendulum is supposed to swing forward and flip the unit ON. Not much use, however, if you hit so hard the unit shatters, which is why it's carried in the "way-back" behind an upholstered aluminum partition separating the cargo area behind the rear seat from the tailcone.

That said, he may have had an EPIRB installed, knowing his background. Somebody said he had a Breitling "emergency" watch which also broadcasts on 121.5.

If you have to crash, a Decathlon is a pretty safe airplane to do it in. The fuselage is welded, triangulated chromemoly steel, basically a space frame that you sit inside, covered in Dacron (called Poly-fiber or Ceonite, not "Canvas" LOL). It acts like a rollcage in a crash, and being an aerobatic airplane is equipped with five-point harnesses with ratchets that resemble the load binders used by truckers. You can crank yourself down in the seat so tightly you will lose circulation in your legs, that's how good these are.

Given that he took off with full tanks I wouldn't speculate he was going up for acro-- you usually don't use full tanks because it's not necessary. This was more of a cross-country, which would suggest he would keep the aircraft straight and level in trim. This leads me to speculate that an in-flight airframe breakup, such as one would experience during accelerated flight like acro, is unlikely.

Engine failure over bad terrain? Probably have time to mayday and ELT would likely go off even if you balled it up following a dead-stick landing. More likely something catastrophic and fast, like a prop hub failure, that results in an unstable, unmanageable aircraft.

Hopefully he will walk out of the desert to much relief. G_d speed Steve, blue side up.

[KevinP73]

Another possibility to consider would be the human element. Perhaps he suffered a medical emergency. Could he have suffered a heart attack, or stroke? He may have been able to set down somewhere but passed before activating any emergency beakons.
Whatever the circumstance it's not looking good for him.
Here's to holding on to hope.

[onewhippedpuppy]

The news report I read stated that he was scouting for a location to do a land-speed record run. Yes, LAND speed. He had already applied for permission to beat the record.

[notfarnow]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

The news report I read stated that he was scouting for a location to do a land-speed record run. Yes, LAND speed. He had already applied for permission to beat the record.

Strange, I thought his plan was to run an ex-Breedlove jet car on the bonneville salt flats. He had to book private time & clear a course that wouldn't interfere with Speed Week or BUB, because of the solid wheels.

[onewhippedpuppy]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,295912,00.html

Took off from NW Nevada.

"Fossett disappeared Monday after taking off from a private airstrip to scout sites for an attempt at a land-speed record in a rocket-propelled car."

It also states that he did have an emergency locator watch, which has also not been activated.

[charleskieffner]

also mentioned black rock dez as possible sight for speed run. but with burning man festivus going on and too many divits on dez floor from hippie dippie vehicles would make speed run rather bumpy. also felt too much repair to dez floor in black rock area.