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Steve Fossett, born James Stephen Fossett on April 22nd 1944, is best known for
his five non-stop flights around the world, one of which being in a balloon.
Beside this, he was also an American businessman, a magnate of the financial
services industries, an aviator, sailor and adventurer. His record-setting
total amounts to a whopping 116, in
five different sports, of which only 66 were beaten until 2007.
Fossett was reported missing on September 3rd, 2007, when the aircraft he was piloting
above the Nevada Desert
never returned. The CAP and other volunteers started a rescue mission which
soon turned into a massive search mission. It lasted for over a month, and when
neither Fossett nor his plane turned up, the CAP mission was called off.
However, volunteers (Fossett’s fans) kept searching, while being privately
funded and organized, even after the
2nd of October 2007. Following a request from the adventurer’s
wife, the state declared Steve Fossett legally dead in 2008, February 15th.
It has been speculated in the past that this disappearance
is Steve Fossett’s attempt at faking his own death. Supporters of this theory,
however, haven’t brought forward any type of tangible evidence.
Recently, some of Fossett’s personal belongings we stumbled
upon by a wandering hiker, in California.
The hiker saw the name on the papers, James Stephen Fossett, and was surprised
at the amount of 100 dollar bills in the wallet – he didn’t make the connection
between the name on paper and the multimillionaire, known to the wide public as
Steve Fossett. He took his findings to the police, where he was informed of the
significance of his discovery. The following day, the hiker returned to the
same place, accompanied by his wife and a few friends. They managed to find a
sweater, but there was no sign of the aircraft or any human remains in the
region.
The hiker’s findings had a massive effect on the local
authorities. After a few days, a full-on aerial search party was assembled, and
they discovered a plane wreck, identified as Fossett’s missing aircraft – a
small, singe-engine Bellanca plane. The local authorities account the lack of
found remains on wild animals, but this is just a theory, as the search party
continues its mission. Fossett’s wife is aware of this turn of events but she
appears to have lost hope that her husband may still be alive. She stated she
awaits the discovery of her husband’s remains.
The aerial team seems more optimistic, as they have not been
called off from searching. However, they must hurry as the area currently under
their surveillance is expecting the first snowfall in a matter of weeks. The
territory is also one difficult to cover - the many crevasse, rocks, hills and
caves are hard to track by plane, and a foot-search would take too long.
Image Credit: www.canada.com
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