CARSON CITY, Nev. — The search for millionaire aviator Steve Fossett, who disappeared a month ago in northern Nevada, was formally suspended Tuesday after what the Civil Air Patrol described as one of the largest efforts to locate a missing plane in modern history.
The decision came after renewed efforts over the weekend proved unsuccessful. Planes and dozens of search- and-rescue personnel on the ground scoured a rugged area southeast of where Fossett was last seen taking off Sept. 3 from an airstrip on hotel mogul Barron Hilton’s sprawling ranch.
With deer-hunting season opening in many areas of the state, officials said they hope that one of the thousands of hunters hiking through wilderness areas will come across the single-engine plane that the part-time Beaver Creek resident had borrowed from Hilton for what was supposed to be a brief flight.
“We’ve exhausted all our leads at this time,” Amy Courter, acting national commander of the Civil Air Patrol, said in a telephone interview.
Courter said that while the search has been officially suspended, it will be revived if new, viable tips come in.
The search, effectively suspended by the Nevada Civil Air Patrol and the Nevada National Guard two weeks ago, had been renewed over the weekend after Air Force experts thought they had detected Fossett’s flight path from radar and satellite images.
In all, the search extended over a 20,000-square-mile area, involving Civil Air Patrol pilots from eight states and Air Force and National Guard units.
Experts in radar analysis also were involved, using high-tech methods to try to determine Fossett’s flight path.
Many pilots who know Fossett also joined in the coordinated search.
Fossett, 63, was the first person to circle the globe solo in a balloon. He also swam the English Channel.
