Web searchers may have found Fossett’s missing plane

Geek.com ^ | 9/13/07 | Doug Osborne

[ZGuy]

Steve Fossett is still missing since his plane plane disappeared on September 3 while searching for areas to attempt a new land speed record. Searching approximately 7,500 square miles, local authorities and the Air Force have yet to find the missing adventurer, but some high-tech images and assistance from the Internet community may have aided in spotting Fossett’s missing plane.

Web users have come to the aid of rescuers by examining numerous satellite images using a service by Amazon.com called Mechanical Turk. According to AVweb, an aviation news resource, it is possible that one of the Web spotters found Fossett’s missing Bellanca Citabria Super Decathlon on a mountain side.

“Sure, it’s a long shot, but AVweb readers taking part in the Mechanical Turk effort to locate Steve Fossett through Google Earth imagery has found something that doesn’t look like it belongs on a mountainside. Have a close look at the accompanying image. It looks to us like it could be the fuselage and wings of a small plane. We’ll likely know soon enough if this is Fossett’s Super Decathlon (or a combination of rock and shadow that looks like it) but in the meantime, the important thing is to keep looking, ” says the posting on AVweb. “Humans are still much better at picking objects out of photos that don’t appear to belong there than computers are.”

Read more at Wired.

Thanks to iturk for the heads-up.

Doug’s Opinion

This is not the first time the Internet community has been asked to help out with searching for something. For years, the SETI@home project has been letting volunteers offer computational power on their computer to analyze radio telescope signals for sentient life among the stars. This is one case, however, where people can feel directly involved in a project versus letting a computer do the work for them.

If this Internet search for Fossett is successful, this could mark a new trend in Web volunteers being used to help find missing people quickly over vast amounts of search area. It only makes sense: the greater number of people scouring satellite imagery will dramatically increase the odds of discovering something while using less resources. Sure, searching for Fossett’s small plane in 7,500 of rugged terrain is like looking for a needle in a haystack, but the more people you have looking for it, the greater the chance that someone is going to find something.

[Smokin' Joe]

see this post WHich contains the link to the article which said he was scouting a lakebed he had found in Eureka County NEVADA (Well East of the Hilton Ranch.)

40.0159166667,-115.961493334 coordinates in Google Earth put the viewer in the dry lakebed north and east of Eureka, Nevada. Altimeter (ground level settings) show low variation (2 feet or less) over much of this lakebed, which might make the site suitable for a land speed record run.

[Rick.Donaldson]

True I guess. I Don't know which way he went, and won't be pouring over images to find him. I was never "officially" trained in satellite intelligence collection, but I have done that sort of thing, and it gives me headaches. lol. More power to those who DO find him, and I hope they find him alive, though it's been... what 11-12 days now?

Given that you're not injured, in good shape to begin with and you have SOMETHING to start with (say pocket knife, some water, a container or two and some stuff you can rip off your disabled plane) I'd say most people can survive for up to 304 weeks with minimal food, as long as they have water. If you're hurt, your chances drop DRASTICALLY. If that is his plane we saw on that image above, it looks mostly intact, and the X means that he's likely injured or can not get off the hills. So, he's with that aircraft waiting for help.

[Rick.Donaldson]

So everyone knows... Google updates the images as it can. Some stuff are days old. Some are two-three years old. If you download the MOST RECENT version (not an older version which I have on my machine at work) then you will see some pretty updated images. Even my own house has had several images taken since 2002. There have been at least four since 2001. That means I have copies (somewhere) of them, and I can verify for a fact they were updated (ignoring the dates on them) because I know what sort of vehicles were parked at my house, like my son’s truck while he was in Iraq. However, there has not been an update since EARLY this year to some of the Colorado Springs areas. So, the images are pieced together over time, and it’s a damned big job, I’m certain.

[Mark Felton]

not a boat. sorry. it looks more like a submarine.

[timc2]

Any idea what this is?

Just to the left of this co-ord

38.2528° -119.391°

[A CA Guy]

You never know!

[Drago]

Any idea what this is?

Just to the left of this co-ord

38.2528° -119.391°

Looks suspicious...did you find that on an Amazon Turk HIT?  If so, did you check the "needs further investigation" check box?  Although when you zoom out somewhat it looks a little too much like rock.