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Growing fears for Fosset’s safety

MINDEN (Nevada): U.S. National Guard planes and helicopters with infrared and thermal imaging equipment scoured the soaring peaks and sagebrush desert of northwest Nevada early on Thursday for any sign of missing adventurist Steve Fossett.

Mr. Fossett disappeared on Monday after taking off from a private airstrip in a single-engine plane to scout sites for an attempt at a land-speed record in a rocket-propelled car.

The painstaking search across more than 1,555 sqkm has covered only a fraction of the territory that could be hiding the airplane. Finishing the fly-overs of the most likely landing spots could take another week.

The Civil Air Patrol and additional flight crews were scheduled to resume a full search. Mr. Fossett’s single-engine plane, a Bellanca Citabria Super Decathlon, carried both water and food, but there also were troubling signs.

The missing plane’s locator device has not sent a signal, there has been no communication from the plane’s radio, and an emergency wristwatch Mr. Fossett wore to signal his location has not been activated.

Some veteran pilots speculated he may have fallen victim to the treacherous and sometimes deadly Sierra Nevada winds that squeeze through the narrow canyons. — AP

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