Adventurer Steve Fossett may have faked his own death – Telegraph –Interesting, yes?
The choice of plane was also a baffling one – a Bellanca Citabria Super Decathlon, which, according to risk assessor Robert Davis said was constructed from a steel and wood frame, but actually covered in fabric, making it easy to dismantle.
Davis conducted an eight-month investigation for insurers Lloyds of London, said to face a £25 million payout on Fossetts death.
“I discovered that there is absolutely no proof that Steve Fossett is actually dead. I’m not a conspiracy theorist, I’m a man who deals in facts, and I don’t really care if he is alive or dead, it makes no difference to me.
“What I am interested in is the truth – and a proper criminal investigation of this mans disappearance was never undertaken by law enforcement or officials in the state of Nevada.”
Found by John Ligums.
Yeah, smells fishy !!! The searchers say they found SIX OTHER plane wrecks, but not Fossett’s, and the Insurance Co certainly doesn’t want to pay out without a corpse, so the “Search” continues !!!
I’ll be he’s alive and well, and living at the secret moon-base.
“and a proper criminal investigation of this mans disappearance was never undertaken by law enforcement or officials in the state of Nevada.””
Umm, I’ve NEVER seen a crim investigation initiated when a light plane goes missing over remote terrain. Unless, evidence turns up showing sabotage. Also, having fabric wings doesn’t make it easy to disassemble. The fabric is doped to make it rigid. A plane that can take +6/-5g isn’t going to come apart easily…
The article is light on details, who gets the payout, and how in the hell does an “internet expert” help find a plane wreckage.
Paddy…but such a plane maybe burns up easily?
#5. Yes, the fabric & wood would turn to ash and the only thing left would be a partial metal frame…
The Civil Air Patrol spokeswomen said “It’s not like we didn’t have our eyes open. We found six other planes while we were looking for him. We’re pretty good at what we do.”
If this is the case, why hadn’t they found those six missing aircraft before the Fosset search?
#7 “If this is the case, why hadn’t they found those six missing aircraft before the Fosset search?”
Because these private aviators will spend more time looking for s/o they admire rather than some low hours pilot who is unknown to them…
The Bellanca Citabria Super Decathlon is an aerobatic plane, per Wikipedia (that page has a reference to the incident).
A friend of mine had a Citabria (don’t know the model) that he used for stunt flying for about 5 years. It was a very sturdy plane.
The incident seems very odd. Fossett was a wealthy man, and money can be used to cover one’s tracks if necessary.
It’s truly extraordinary an accomplished aviator would be missing and not be found in North America. I support continuing the investigation to find him or discover more facts about the disappearance. Steve Fossett was an Eagle Scout and affiliated with many Scouting committees. I’ll wait to see if any evidence appears before I change my opinion of a man that I had a tremendous amount of respect.
Yep, it sounds fishy.
I heard he has had a sex change and is currently living with Richard Branson.
I heard he faked being a man.
That there was no ELT transmission detected means the aircraft is likely situated in a nook or overhang; or it’s underwater, making it invisible to satellites (or searching aircraft).
If Fossett planned this, what was he trying to make this look like? Alien abduction?
RBG
#15 Or the ELT was destroyed on impact or consumed in fire.
#11 “It’s truly extraordinary an accomplished aviator would be missing and not be found in North America.”
As anyone who flown over N.A. knows, it is mostly empty wasteland, forests & mountains. He was flying over an area of rugged, mountainous & empty terrain. It’s amazing that they find as much as they do. Not the other way around…
You can burn the fabric off the plane, but you’re left with 700 lbs. of steel cage, engine, prop, cowls, struts, ldg. gear, inst. panel, tanks, floor, and a rather suspicious ground burn pattern. Getting rid of 400 lbs. of spars and fabric still leaves an extremely strong airframe that’s welded together.
I suppose you could hide the Lycoming IO-360 engine, but you sure ain’t gonna carry it yourself.
I owned one for many years, so I’m not making this stuff up.
This guy is nuttier than squirrel crap. Why waste a perfectly good plane? Land it, paste the XC-GFY decal on the wings and head for Mexico.
The alliens got him…..
It’s a X-files PR stunt!
Fosset is alive and well and posting under an assumed name at DU.
Morans, get a life. This just ain’t a fucking mystery novel here. The guy’s plane went down. The same as the six other planes the S&R found. He isn’t the first or the last.
It is interesting to speculate but there are a few things hard to dismiss, if he went down in the search area on land he should have been spotted. Not 100% for sure but close. If you look at some of the pictures of the 6 other wrecks they found, you would have trouble picking them out from a few feet away on the ground. Most old wrecks are like that.
If the airframe burned you see big burn marks. If it didn’t burn you see color where you shouldn’t. Or you see ground or vegetation disturbed. In tall tree you would see a impact path leading to the airplane. If you go in the water if the airplane doesn’t float or the water is deep you will still see a oil or gas slick.
ELT’s are not that great for going off when you need them to. A lot of the ones we looked at after were perfectly functional but were never triggered.
And to anyone who is commenting about easy it would be to take the Citabria apart has never done it. It’s a bitch and thats with help.
The other part is Fossett was a very experienced pilot, and that airplane could land anywhere if he had a few hundred feet of clear ground. And much less if he didn’t care if it flew again.
ps it’s spelt “moron”
Fossett was not a young man at 63. He was though an excellent aviator and even with a fire or engine out he could have landed that particular airplane in a few hundred feet or even a river valley.
Most likely he had a heart attack, stroke, or something disabled him and the plane crashed. That they haven’t found him means little in that rugged terrain. That type of plane has no auto-pilot or wing leveler than I know and it could have flown hands-off for many miles if properly trimmed.
He was also rich in his own right but if he needed money he ran around in rich cicles with billionairs who would loan him any amount.
I came back to follow up because at this moment noon on 2 October, 2008, the wreckage of Steve Fossett’s plane has been found.
The sensationalist’s theory collapes. No he didn’t willingly disappear or fake his own death. I waited for more information and we now have it.
Will this blog follow up on this story?
I predict only if it will generate lots of clicks, otherwise it fails in follow-up like some many disappointing forms of media.
Public interest wanes and a great man fades into history under similar circumstances like fellow aviators Amelia Earhart, Wiley Post and others.
#23 – Dugger
They found his plane, but they didn’t find his body. Presumably his bones have not disingtegrated after a year. The license was there, some cash was there, but no remains.
Hmmmmm.
#24 Looks like I was right.
BTW, in that area there are bears, cougar, coyotes & other scavengers. His remains were eaten.
Well, if he WAS trying to disappear, he might have bailed out, leaving his wallet as “evidence” to be found in the wreckage. With the plane on auto-pilot, it might have continued to fly out of the search area, as that jet that was flying some golfers that depressurized and flew across several states before crashing when out of fuel, and even was inspected in-flight by the air force, finding no one flying the plane !!!
#25 – Paddy-O
>>BTW, in that area there are bears, cougar,
>>coyotes & other scavengers
No crocodiles, alligators, or other predators that eat their prey whole, though.
What happened to his bones?
#27 “What happened to his bones?”
Drug around and scattered. How far did they find the wallet from the crash site? His sweater was also found away from the wallet.
BTW, coyotes, like dogs, eat bones for the marrow.
Everyone can take off their tin foil hats now.
>>Drug around and scattered.
Well, they should be able to find SOME remains. Not much marrow in the fingers, toes, skull, ribs, etc.
And being the thrill-seeker he is (was?), I wouldn’t be surprised if he pulled a DB Cooper and bailed on the plane, leaving stuff like his wallet and license to throw the bloodhounds off the track.
Case not closed, yet.