ccheese
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The crash wreckage discovered in California's Sierra Nevada Mountains is in fact that of lost adventurer Steve Fossett's plane, authorities said Thursday.
Madera County Sheriff John Anderson told reporters that searchers "found enough wreckage to determine that it was in fact the aircraft" Fossett was flying solo when he disappeared last September.
"The crash looked to be so severe that I doubt if someone would have walked away from it," said Anderson during a Thursday news conference. The engine was lying about 300 feet from where the wings and the fuselage were found.
The news came after federal transportation officials from the NTSB headed to California Thursday morning to retrieve the plane debris found in a mountainous, wooded area and join the investigation.
The discovery of the decimated single-engine Bellanca came days after a local hiker stumbled upon some of Fossett's personal effects — including his pilot's license and FAA cards.
Anderson said the plane was found about a quarter-mile away from where the items turned up, and authorities had not yet determined whether the sweatshirt that was with the documents belonged to 63-year-old Fossett.
In total, about 50 searches were planned in the coming days, according to the sheriff.
"We're certainly going to do an extensive search for remains," he said.
The National Transportation Safety Board went to analyze the remnants of the small plane — discovered overnight by searchers not far from where hiker and local ski shop owner Preston Morrow came across Fossett's belongings.
The wreckage was located at about an elevation of 10,000 feet in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the Mammoth Lakes, Calif., area, the NTSB said.
Fossett — who made international headlines with a daring round-the-world balloon trek — was flying alone when he vanished Sept. 3, 2007.
The initial aerial sighting was called in around sunset, according to Erica Stuart, spokeswoman for the Madera County Sheriff's Office.
Searchers had been combing a 10-mile radius around the spot where a hiker had found what appeared to be a pilot's license and other items belonging to Fossett in a thicket of woods not far from the Nevada state line.
Morrow told FOX News he was hiking alone with his dog near his home in Mammoth Lakes Monday afternoon when he came across what appeared to be three identification cards bearing Fossett's name and issued by the Federal Aviation Administration in Illinois.
Morrow, 43, also found $1,005 in cash. Anderson, the sheriff, said Thursday police assumed the money was Fossett's.
On Tuesday, Morrow returned to the site to get a GPS reading when he spotted a sweatshirt on top of a ridge.
Morrow then brought the items back home to his wife, a local fire captain, Mammoth Lakes Police Chief Randy Schienle told FOX News.
He then turned the items over to local police Wednesday after unsuccessful attempts to contact Fossett's family.
Officers believe the cards are authentic, sources said.
The bills were tattered and crumpled on the ground; the weather-worn sweatshirt was nearby, Morrow told FOX. Both human and animal hair were found on the clothing.
Morrow said he didn't see any signs of Fossett's plane.
But his discovery prompted authorities to assemble a new search team to comb the area, Schienle said.
Fossett was the first person to ride the jet stream around the world in a balloon. He climbed some of the world's tallest and toughest mountains, sailed and set a number of world records.
On his last flight, he took off from a private airstrip on the Nevada ranch owned by hotel magnate Barron Hilton.
The thrill-seeker never returned, and until now, searchers had found no trace of the plane — though authorities had believed it went down in a rugged region.
Fossett was declared legally dead in February.
Fossett, who lived with his wife part-time in Beaver Creek, Colo., made a fortune trading futures and options on Chicago markets.
In August, an attorney for Fossett's widow pleaded for an end to speculation circulating on the Internet that the millionaire balloonist and pilot may have faked his own death, possibly because he was heavily in debt.
This from Fox News
Charles
Madera County Sheriff John Anderson told reporters that searchers "found enough wreckage to determine that it was in fact the aircraft" Fossett was flying solo when he disappeared last September.
"The crash looked to be so severe that I doubt if someone would have walked away from it," said Anderson during a Thursday news conference. The engine was lying about 300 feet from where the wings and the fuselage were found.
The news came after federal transportation officials from the NTSB headed to California Thursday morning to retrieve the plane debris found in a mountainous, wooded area and join the investigation.
The discovery of the decimated single-engine Bellanca came days after a local hiker stumbled upon some of Fossett's personal effects — including his pilot's license and FAA cards.
Anderson said the plane was found about a quarter-mile away from where the items turned up, and authorities had not yet determined whether the sweatshirt that was with the documents belonged to 63-year-old Fossett.
In total, about 50 searches were planned in the coming days, according to the sheriff.
"We're certainly going to do an extensive search for remains," he said.
The National Transportation Safety Board went to analyze the remnants of the small plane — discovered overnight by searchers not far from where hiker and local ski shop owner Preston Morrow came across Fossett's belongings.
The wreckage was located at about an elevation of 10,000 feet in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the Mammoth Lakes, Calif., area, the NTSB said.
Fossett — who made international headlines with a daring round-the-world balloon trek — was flying alone when he vanished Sept. 3, 2007.
The initial aerial sighting was called in around sunset, according to Erica Stuart, spokeswoman for the Madera County Sheriff's Office.
Searchers had been combing a 10-mile radius around the spot where a hiker had found what appeared to be a pilot's license and other items belonging to Fossett in a thicket of woods not far from the Nevada state line.
Morrow told FOX News he was hiking alone with his dog near his home in Mammoth Lakes Monday afternoon when he came across what appeared to be three identification cards bearing Fossett's name and issued by the Federal Aviation Administration in Illinois.
Morrow, 43, also found $1,005 in cash. Anderson, the sheriff, said Thursday police assumed the money was Fossett's.
On Tuesday, Morrow returned to the site to get a GPS reading when he spotted a sweatshirt on top of a ridge.
Morrow then brought the items back home to his wife, a local fire captain, Mammoth Lakes Police Chief Randy Schienle told FOX News.
He then turned the items over to local police Wednesday after unsuccessful attempts to contact Fossett's family.
Officers believe the cards are authentic, sources said.
The bills were tattered and crumpled on the ground; the weather-worn sweatshirt was nearby, Morrow told FOX. Both human and animal hair were found on the clothing.
Morrow said he didn't see any signs of Fossett's plane.
But his discovery prompted authorities to assemble a new search team to comb the area, Schienle said.
Fossett was the first person to ride the jet stream around the world in a balloon. He climbed some of the world's tallest and toughest mountains, sailed and set a number of world records.
On his last flight, he took off from a private airstrip on the Nevada ranch owned by hotel magnate Barron Hilton.
The thrill-seeker never returned, and until now, searchers had found no trace of the plane — though authorities had believed it went down in a rugged region.
Fossett was declared legally dead in February.
Fossett, who lived with his wife part-time in Beaver Creek, Colo., made a fortune trading futures and options on Chicago markets.
In August, an attorney for Fossett's widow pleaded for an end to speculation circulating on the Internet that the millionaire balloonist and pilot may have faked his own death, possibly because he was heavily in debt.
This from Fox News
Charles
