Posted on 10/01/2008 10:19:36 AM PDT by jazusamo
Items belonging to Steve Fossett, an aviator who's been missing for over a year, have been found by a California couple in the woods.
The couple was hiking in Mammoth Lakes, California, when they found FAA ID cards belonging to Steve Fossett - and police are saying the cards are not forged.
A search of the area has not turned up any further evidence of the pilot.
Steve Fossett, the commodities trader turned record-breaking aviator, was declared legally dead in February of this years, five months after he vanished while flying in Nevada.
(Excerpt) Read more at postchronicle.com ...
It ain’t mine.
Some of lost air adventurer Steve Fossett's personal belongings may have been found in the California woods not far from the Nevada state line, FOX News has learned.
A California fire captain and her husband, hiking near their home in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., stumbled across what appear to be two cards with Fossett's name on them that were issued by the Federal Aviation Administration in Illinois.
They also found a small amount of cash and a sweat jacket. Mammoth Lakes Police were interviewing the couple about the find, but early reports suggest the cards are authentic, sources told FOX News.
Interesting.
Hoping to read some good speculation on this thread!
I have thought all along that the airplane must have gone into some lake, due to the absence of any radio signal from the mandatory crash locator beacon. My guess was Walker Lake, but wherever it is resting there has to be enough debris to be found in a search, at least the engine.
Not as odd as it may seem at first. If he survived the crash and made it away from the scene (or even bailed out prior to) he may have personally got himself miles from the crash site. Even if he went down with the plane and died, scavengers may have pulled the body, or parts thereof, considerable distance.
This seems curious because it was his ID card. Other hikers or campers may have come across scraps of cloth or other detritus not readily associated with Fossett, and have simply passed them by thinking them just litter from other hikers. This is newsworthy simply because it can be definitively tied to Fossett.
Is it possible those cute and cuddly animals have adopted Fossett and are nursing him back to health?
Anything’s possible. Ditching in a lake might look good, depending on the terrain. It would be strange to have no debris wash up, though.
Google searches show that websites were reporting at the time that Fossett was wearing shorts and a t-shirt. No mention of a sweat jacket. That's not to say he wouldn't have had one stashed in the plane somewhere.
Correct, those are all possibilities. Updated article says two cards, small amount of cash and a sweat jacket were found. He may have survived the crash.
Summer flying is only hot on the ground. Get up to 10,000 ft, and you need either a jacket or cabin heat.
From what I know about the Mammoth Lakes area about the only place to crash land would be one of the lakes and there are several.
the earliest one they found dated back decades if i remember correctly.
Maybe, but sometimes they find something.
susie
I forget that other parts of the country actually have a winter!
susie
Well, that’s what I thought, but I guess if it blew up (on impact?) might things get scattered pretty far? I would hope, for his family’s sake they would find something that would be considered definite proof.
susie
You’re right, I remember they found several other wrecks. Not surprising because the area they were looking in was south and east of Carson City and Yerrington, NV. It’s mostly high desert that’s hilly with rock outcroppings and various types of scrub trees and brush. Very difficult to spot any kind of wreckage.
Sad to think of. I know it doesn’t really matter to him, but to his family, this is probably very frustrating. I’m not a big believer in closure from the standpoint that you just don’t go, oh, ok, it’s over, life is fine, but I think it helps when you have a situation where you just don’t know what happened.
susie
Thank you for the info. Yes, it’s strange. I wonder if it would be possible that someone else found the wreckage, rummaged thru it and these were things they just tossed aside? I never put anything past people, guess I’m somewhat cynical.
susie
Drat, I thought when you said a small *time* that maybe you meant in a different dimension and I was ready for some really interesting information!
susie
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