Minden, Nev. – The hunt for aviator Steve Fossett entered its second full day Wednesday with searchers continuing to express hope the missing pilot can be found alive, buoyed by reports of possible sightings of his plane in a river valley and other spots along the eastern Sierra.
More than 650 rescuers on the ground and in the air continued the round-the- clock search for Fossett and his blue- and-white single-engine aircraft over a vast swath of craggy terrain straddling Nevada and California.
The 63-year-old Fossett, whose aerial feats include becoming the first man to circle the globe solo in a balloon, took off Monday morning from an airstrip at hotel magnate William Barron Hilton’s Flying M Ranch, about 70 miles southeast of Reno. It was to be a short flight to scout for dry lake beds suitable for his planned attempt to break the land speed record.
When he didn’t return that day, a hunt was launched that grew to include federal and state authorities from California and Nevada.
Turbulence and gusts reaching 40 mph hampered the effort Tuesday, but winds subsided Wednesday, allowing searchers in planes and helicopters to draw closer to the tree-speckled mountainsides and desert washes of a 600-square-mile area that is the focus of the hunt.
Authorities also deployed a new tactic, bringing in a Civil Air Patrol plane from Utah that features a new computer imaging system that can pinpoint objects out of the dizzying background of trees, sagebrush and granite boulders in the search area.
The Nevada National Guard planned to fly throughout Wednesday night and into the early morning hours of today, using C-130s and helicopters with infrared and thermal-imaging equipment. The Civil Air Patrol and additional flight crews were scheduled to resume the full search shortly after daybreak today.
Ground crews and helicopters were focusing on parts of the Walker River Canyon and spots near Bishop, Calif., and Lee Vining, Calif., on the back side of Yosemite National Park after witnesses reported seeing a plane like Fossett’s flying in the area Monday morning.
“We remain very optimistic that we can find this gentleman alive,” said Gary Derks, operations officer for the Nevada Division of Emergency Services. “He’s proven to be a good survivor. And he’s not a reckless pilot.”
Friends were also confident that Fossett’s experience and knack for surviving tough odds would pull him through.
“Steve is a tough old boot. I suspect he is waiting by his plane right now for someone to pick him up,” Sir Richard Branson, the British billionaire who has helped finance many of Fossett’s adventures, said in a statement Tuesday.
Maj. Cynthia Ryan of the Civil Air Patrol’s Nevada wing said Fossett departed with all the proper equipment. The plane, a Bellanca Citabria Super Decathlon, had been well-maintained, she said. He carried survival gear. And the tail of the aircraft was outfitted with an emergency satellite locator designed to begin broadcasting after a crash.
Ryan said authorities had followed up on a couple of electronic leads over the previous 24 hours, but all turned out to be “bogus hits.”
Ryan said Fossett has a record of resilience. If he survived a crash landing, he could be expected to last a week or more in the Sierra outback, she said.
