Declare Steve Fossett dead, asks adventurer's widow

The Register.uk ^ | 11/28/2007 | Lester Haines

[RicocheT]

The wife of missing adventurer Steve Fossett has filed a petition for her husband to be declared legally dead, some three months after the 63-year-old disappeared without trace in the Nevada desert.

Despite a huge search operation mounted following Fosset's evidently ill-fated 3 September flight from Barron Hilton's Flying M Ranch, roughly 70 miles southeast of Reno, neither he nor the remains of his Bellanca Citabria Super Decathalon have been found.

Mary Downie, one of Mrs Fossett's lawyers, told the Chicago Tribune: "Although an ongoing recovery mission continues, all involved have accepted the inevitable conclusion that Mr Fossett did not survive."

[WestwardHo]

We lived in the White Mountains of Arizona. When a friends plane went into the side of a mountain while scouting elk, we learned how many small planes have crashed in mountain canyons covered with trees and brush and are never found.
Try a web search on “missing planes.”
Mr Fossett just happens to be high profile.
Mrs Fossett is faced with really tough decisions.
She is a realist. I wouldn’t want to be in her place. The whole thing is tragic.

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

Is it possible that he could have just flown off somewhere, with the intent to disappear? I think 3 months is too soon to declare him dead. They should at least wait a year.

[Dumpster Baby]

They found several previously unlocated crash sites while looking for him.

That was one of the most interesting things about the search. That country must really be rough and visually confusing from the air to miss so many crashes over the years. I've seen aerial pics of various light plane crashes, and if I had been a novice on a search plane I wouldn't have recognized what I was looking at. Some of those crashes looked like just a small scattering of wind-blown trash among the trees or rocks.

[SeaHawkFan]

I thought there was a specified waiting period (perhaps different for each state) before someone could be declared dead.

That might be the case when there is no evidence that a person has actually died. In this case, there can be no doubt that Steve Fosset is dead.

[FReepaholic]

...Try a web search on “missing planes.” ...

From www.themissingplanes.com:

"The Missing Planes is a feral band. They have extra large incisors. They play rock and roll music the way one would track, kill, and eat a four-legged beast. They do not feel the need to accessorize or drink lattes. When Michele and Matt pass you on the street, they will look away, even if you’re their mom because they are so through with you and your bullshit."

[fish hawk]

A lot of people do not realize that when the body is not found, the surviving spouse gets into big financial problems. My daughter lost her husband at sea and it took three years for her to collect any insurance etc.etc. It mostly is that it takes way over a year just to get a death certificate and that screws up everything else. After watching the hell she went through, I really feel for those suffering from the same fate.

[Just another Joe]

Not for 7 years.
If they don't find a body, no eye witnesses of the death, no circumstantial evidence of the death, the law says 7 years, if I recall correctly.

[Rb ver. 2.0]

Fossett was so ate up with aviation history and records that part of me thinks he’s living on a South Pacific Island with Ginger and Mary Ann, basking in the fame of having become the new Amelia Earhart.

[Squantos]

Agree.......

[radioman]

Can anybody explain to me how the terrain in that area could preclude a diligent search party from discovering his plane and him? and especially with Fossett, I doubt any expense would be spared.

He was probably surfin' the ridge. If so, he probably went down in a canyon in the Sierras. Many planes have gone missing in this part of the country...it's not unusual here.

[Badeye]

I don’t believe he’s dead.

[Rb ver. 2.0]

The guy survived a 29,000’ balloon crash into the Coral Sea by timing exactly as to when to turn on the burners to inflate the balloon enough to slow his decent. Figuratively, he’s already died once.

If anyone could pull off faking it so convincingly, it would be him, IMO.

[dmz]

Idiotic comment. She’s already got all his money.

[rockinqsranch]

“”Closure” is a BS psycho-babble term.”

OK Oscar, What would you call it?

[OESY]

I don’t believe he’s dead.

Look mate, this pilot is definitely deceased. He's bleeding demised. He's not pining for the fjords, he's passed on. This pilot is no more. He has ceased to be. He's expired and gone to meet his maker. This is a late pilot. He's a stiff. Bereft of life, he rests in peace. He's pushing up the daisies. He's rung down the curtain and joined the choir invisible. This is an ex-pilot.

.

[Squantos]

Sure he could plan and pay for a hundred hides around the world.......

I personally , after considering all info available too us , think it’s a 50/50 possibility he’s bearin it all on a bali beach or is bear scat .....

[Rb ver. 2.0]

I wonder if he got bad news from his doctor and decided to “exit stage left” in spectacular fashion knowing he only had to pull it off for a few years at most? He is wealthy enough to buy silence from at least one person.

[mysterio]

Look mate, this pilot is definitely deceased. He's bleeding demised. He's not pining for the fjords, he's passed on. This pilot is no more. He has ceased to be. He's expired and gone to meet his maker. This is a late pilot. He's a stiff. Bereft of life, he rests in peace. He's pushing up the daisies. He's rung down the curtain and joined the choir invisible. This is an ex-pilot.

POST OF THE DAY

[Badeye]

I have the same criteria for this sort of thing I do for those that claim Bigfoot exists.

Show me the body, or show me the crap pile.

Til then.....

[taxed2death]

“I’m sure in five years....we will have someone who says that aliens took him.”

Not exactly...but close.......

http://www.zetatalk.com/index/zeta406.htm