Steve Fossett’s ID docs Found … Plane Found Found … Update: Human Remans Found
It has been more than one year since Steve Fossett went missing went his plane, a single-engine, Citabria Super Decathlon disappearance. For months searches were conducted to no avail, until now. The main two remaining questions in the mystery of missing adventurer Steve Fossett:
- Where are his remains
- What caused his single-engine airplane to slam into a steep granite slope seven miles west of this town?
Steve Fossett ID
Wednesday, a hiker found identification documents, some of which were confirmed by the Federal Aviation Administration and local police to match up with the American adventurer Steve Fossett. His plane was found about 1/4 mile from where his id documents were found. Searchers find Fossett’s plane but not his body.
UPDATE I: Ctv is reporting that human remains have been found scattered amid the wreckage of his plane in eastern California.
Wreckage from a plane belonging to Steve Fossett is seen in a handout photo released by the Mono County Sheriff’s Search, Ctv
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The National Transportation Safety Board would not reveal what exactly was found, but they said the discovery was enough to provide the coroner’s office with a DNA sample.
Earlier in the day, Madera County sheriff John Anderson said the single-engine aircraft Fossett was piloting likely crashed head-on into the mountainside in the Inyo National Forest near the town of Mammoth Lakes.
Most of the fuselage disintegrated on impact, and the engine was found quite a distance away, Anderson said.
The discovery of the remains came after Anderson said searchers would walk arm-to-arm for about a kilometre-and-a-half around the crash site.
Wreckage of Fossett’s plane, and remains, found
A small piece of bone was found amid a field of debris 400 feet long and 150 feet wide in a steep section of the mountain range, the National Transportation Safety Board said at a news conference Thursday. Some personal effects also were found at the site.
Officials conflicted on whether they had confirmed the remains were human.
“We don’t know if it’s human. It certainly could be,” Madera County Sheriff John Anderson said late Thursday, hours after the leader of the NTSB had said the remains were those of a person. “I refuse to speculate.”
NY Times: Remains Are Found at Site of Fossett Plane Crash
UPDATE II: Wreckage of Steve Fossett’s Plane Airlifted
A helicopter removes bundles of twisted metal from the remote, rugged area. Federal investigators plan to begin examining the parts next week. And searchers discover three more bone fragments.
Contractors finished plucking parts of adventurer Steve Fossett’s plane from remote wilderness in the Sierra Nevada this afternoon, preparing the wreckage for analysis by the National Transportation Safety Board.
UPDATE III: Remnants of Fossett’s plane may provide clues
A piece of wreckage from a plane with the tail number N24OR, which belonged to Steve Fossett, is seen on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2008, in a handout photo released by the Mono County Sheriff’s Search & Rescue. (Mono County Sheriff / AP)