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October 2, 2008 11:34 PM
by John Crawley
WASHINGTON - Rescue crews have found the wreckage of a small plane in eastern California mountains that appears to be the one piloted by millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett, the National Transportation Safety Board said on Thursday.
The NTSB said the small airplane found on Wednesday "appears to be the aircraft piloted by Steve Fossett."
The safety board did not say anything in a statement about finding any remains of Fossett's body.
Fossett, 63, vanished in his single-engine Bellanca airplane after taking off from a private airstrip in Nevada in September 2007.
The wreckage was located about 10,000 feet up the
Sierra Nevada Mountains in the vicinity of Mammoth
Lakes, California. The NTSB said it has sent an investigator
to the accident site.
The fact that safety board officials were dispatched to the
scene and would comment publicly on the plane indicates
a strong likelihood that it was Fossett's.
Despite weeks of extensive land and air searches after
Fossett disappeared, no wreckage was found, and he
was declared legally dead in February after investigators
concluded that his airplane was destroyed in a fatal accident.
But a hiker in a remote area of California this week found
two of his aviation identification cards.
The cards and a sweatshirt were found in a remote part of
Madera County in the eastern Sierras between Yosemite
National Park and the Nevada border.
Police in California said on Wednesday that more than 30
search teams were being formed to comb the mountainous
area for the wreckage in coming days ahead of a potential
snowfall.
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