Steve Fossett: Is closure finally at hand?

Imagine hiking alone in the wilderness and spotting $100 bills scattered on the ground, thinking this was your lucky day.

But then you find a sweater and pieces of identification containing Steve Fossett's name, and you realize this discovery is much more important.

That's what happened to Preston Morrow on Wednesday morning. The employee of Kittredge Sports in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., made the find in a remote area east of Minaret Mine above the Eastern Sierra town, just across the Madera County line.

Since then, the media, including The Times, have been following the story and search-and-rescue teams have resumed efforts to locate wreckage of the plane that the famous adventurer was flying when he went missing shortly after taking off from the Flying M Ranch in Nevada in September 2007.

Morrow reportedly did not find any sign of wreckage, but the terrain in the region is extremely rugged. Here's hoping for a successful air search to bring closure to this unfortunate episode, once and for all.

—Pete Thomas

Comments

[Bob]

why is that better? i'd rather find money than fosset's clothing.

[Anonymous]

Perhaps Fosset was hoping to get a look at WWII aircraft wreckage that was in the news at about the same time he disappeared.

[dc]

The guy probably faked his own death. Why the scattered money and no wreckage? Why the convenient ID? Why the sweater? How did a bunch of $100's scatter within a small area? if they fell from a plane that - what exploded or something? - why wouldnt they be scattered over many square miles?

If the plane crashed, why did those items find themselves far removed from the crash site? Why werent the bills and sweater burnt? Why not finding partial items?

if he survived and made a camp or something, why scatter the bills again? Why leave the area?

[Haregot]

The guy's a chump for going to the cops. I would have just taken the money and forgot about the whole incident. Screw Fosset. What has he ever done for the poor?

Watch, I bet it'll turn out he's done a lot, but still.

[Jay]

Aren't you sensitive Bob! A really jerk statement. Steve Fossett was a great guy and I'm glad they are getting close to closure for him family and fans.

[Andy]

What would be even more interesting is if he was found naked and penniless after giving up all his money and clothes to be a nude hermit.

[potts]

i would of kept the money and kept my mouth closed, and i would of took of the rest of the week from work and made a week of hiking and continued searching for that cash : ) But i hope they find the guy bc i dont believe i can stomach seeing somebody all mangled . LOL

[Samdog]

Who is this guy? I only vaguely remember hearing about this story. I'm sorry he crashed, but now his family can put an end to the uncertainty and move on. Sounds like he went out doing what he loved.

[Rob]

In a plane crash debris/clothing/wreckage can scatter at distances up to a mile or more. Unfortunately I really doubt it was stuff he left behind on his own will, now we can only wait and see what unfolds. Hopefully this helps out the family in some way.

[Ron Maxey]

one comment and he is an idiot ?

[steveballmers]

This story has personally impacted me, seeing that Fossett was a fellow billionaire and acquaintance. But this story is turning into more of a mystery than I would have ever anticipated.
You see, in the search for Fossett, every form of technology known (some unknown) to man has been employed in the search effort: satellites, radar, aerial, foot, dogs, microwave, Internet, seismic, thermal scans, .... and thousands upon thousands of personnel have been involved. BUT NO FOSSETT!

I can't help but wonder, "is something else going on here?"
There has never ever been this level of technology and manpower put into a search for anyone in history, still zilch!
I'm no conspiracy theorist, but, you have to admit this is interesting.
I know the UFO abduction people will have a theory, the Bermuda triangle types, pre-tribulation rapture people, Ozone holers, Swamis', Occultist, ghost busters, trekkies and grassy knollers; but let's be serious! Area 51 is only 200 miles NW of where Fossett was headed (I've been there), what do they know? Could he have been shot down? Beamed out? Black holed? Time warped?

Hopefully he is just on the lamb, laid-up with a couple of thai girls in some ratty hotel outside of Singapore (again).

In any case continue to keep him in your prayers.

[Robert]

If he is still alive and staged his disappearance, this is a big "uh-oh".

[Biff]

Because his family needs and wants closure. Never knowing is hard. Have some compassion.

[Ellie]

What would be terribly sad would be if he survived the crash, could not use his cell or whatever and started walking - discarded some of his things and threw the money knowing that money doesn't mean a thing when you are trapped and alone. Wilderness is wilderness and all the technology in the world sometimes doesn't help when you are in "no man's land." I feel terribly sorry for his wife and friends if this ends up being true. Whether hiking or flying somewhere - leave information to those that care about you and don't change directions.

[kathleen keane]

It was first reported that they were found INSIDE an abandoned mine -- which was rather strange. Later, it was reported that all the 100 bills were found in a bush.

Other people from that area reported that the animals would have carried his bones off if he had died. However, I am wondering if somehow he tossed the shirt, jacket (money in pocket) out of the plane before it crashed. Perhaps he lost power and that plane didn't have a very good glide ratio, or perhaps the cabin was filled with smoke, something like that.

Fossett was an extremely talented pilot -- and he disappeared at the same time the nuke headed to Barksdale disappeared -- so this is a very very interesting find......

[DC]

That area of the Sierra Nevada is steep, you just don't go around hiking it without being in the best of shape. I was just north of there in late July at 11,000 ft and it's all rock on the East side.Plenty of lakes to try a soft landing in if possible. I've flown small planes, gliders and Lear Jets, when the shitake hits, you don't have much time to land where you want to.
As a thought though, a collision in that area would spread the debris out farther. Fallon Naval Air Base is not far away with regular flights along the east side of the Sierra, all the way down to China Lake in the Mojave where the Marine Corps have their own version of Top Gun School, at least they did in the past. Based just on what has been reported, I think there was a collision. If it was against the known terrain that is understandable, but if another aircraft was involved then that is worth considering. Not all near misses or even collisions are reported especially if it could ruin someone's career. D.C.

[jeff wilson]

Steve was an amazing guy. It is sad to see the fools and haters on this board trashing the man. From what has been reported thus far, I theorize that the plane is very nearby (guy who found the stuff did not know who Fossett was until he showed the money and IDs to his boss back in town, otherwise he may have poked around a bit more), possibly at the bottom of one of those lakes. Animals may have pulled his clothing from his body containing the items, strewing them about, or Steve may have tried to hike out injured and succumbed to his injury and exposure. We will probably know the answer in the next few days.

[EDC]

I have, in my younger days, been involved in search and rescue operations of many kinds, including downed aircraft. I have seen terrible situations and remarkable survival situations.

To those of you who have zero empathy for the family of Mr. Fossett and say take the found money and run I have but one wish.

II wish that some day you will impact the earth at 60 miles per hour in the middle of nowhere. I hope that you will have (and you will) numerous broken bones and other injuries I hope that you will also have a large bag full of $100.00 bills and that you drag it with you as you try to get to some help.

And when the rule of threes (three minutes without air, three days without water, and three weeks without food) finally catches up with you and you are completely alone and you know that you will not survive, and you know that wild animals are going to scatter your bones all over the area, I hope that the money still means something to you because you can't eat it and you can't drink it.

You will die alone and afraid and some idiot will blog to take the money and run.

[Gene]

Haha, props, EDC. Good response. In sharp contrast to most of the above, which are pretty funny, if anything.

Yep, so it looks like he's about to be found... the animals probably dragged the money/cards/jacket/whatever from the body, but it and the plane must be somewhere in the vicinity. Well. At least now there's closure.

[RobertVB]

Look at Google Earth 37"40'05.31N 119"09'04.03W

Is that an airplane?

[saintsubversive]

Its funny how nobody pays attention to small details in these stories. Reported elsewhere is the fact that the hiker found the money and ID cards, took them back to the store he worked at with them, and showed it to his "coworkers" (who them allegedly informed him at that time who Steve Fossett was), and then ... he and his wife and a "videographer" who "just happened to be in the Mammoth Lakes area" went back out there and searched again, and then tried to contact the Fossett family without success (reward hounds). Finally, the NEXT DAY, they reported the find to police.

1) who is the "videographer" that was coincidentally in the area (more like their friend who owns a video camera) and 2) did they need a day to ponder whether to keep the money (or to go out to there to see if they could find more of it before the police did) and then finally reported it after (hoping that a reward will cover the returned cash).

Something about this whole incident is very, very fishy indeed. If Fossett is somehow pulling an "Andy Kaufman" type stunt (ie "faking a death" for whatever reason) then he should be prosecuted bigtime. If not, then somebody isnt telling everything they know.