Yesterday, a pair of hikers found a torn sweat shirt and several items with Fossett's name on them just west of the town of of Mammoth Lakes, CA in the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

Mammoth Lakes, CA is about 100 miles from where Fossett's plane took off last September.

His wrecked plane was located today in roughly the same area. No human remains have been located yet.

link

UPDATE: Human remains have been found.

That's what he gets for being interesting.


*drinks his glass of milk before it starts getting warm*

Ugh. *is saddened once again* At least now we know, at least now his family and friends have closure. What a shame, seemed like a nice guy, he seemed "real", you know? And what a life- you can't say he didn't live, even tho he died young.

There's a great pic I saw of him after one of his amazing achievements, where he's smiling ear to ear, and Richard Branson is holding Fossett by the head and kissing him on the cheek, a real *mmmmWAH!* kiss. It's a hilarious shot- two multi-BILLionaires celebrating like frat boys, but it really shows Fossett's character, I think. EDIT- found the pic and the link to a Fossett slideshow:

Click to view attachment

http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Steve-Fosset...x450_us_fossett

I bet the investigators will be able to learn whether or not there was a mechanical malfunction, which I personally doubt. Seems like he would have had time to radio an SOS. IMHO, it's more likely he had a medical issue that made him lose consciousness instantly. Maybe he never saw the crash coming.

RIP Steven...

The engine was found about 100 yards from the plane and the fuselage disintegrated on impact, which indicates that it was a high speed impact. If it was a mechanical malfunction (other than structural failure or a control surface problem), he would have been been gliding in at much slower airspeed.

Some reports say that there were storm clouds in the area on the day he disappeared, and he crashed in to the side of a mountain, so I'm wondering if a down burst from a thunderstorm got him, or if it was poor visibility and he just flew straight in to the mountain.

I wonder if he was off-course as well (as I don't recall the original search looking anywhere in California), even though Mammoth Lakes isn't really that far from where he took off...

Saw a report today that said that CAP overflew the area he was in several times but because of the terrain and forestation, it would have been difficult to spot.

Since the plane hit almost straight in, the debris field would have been pretty small.