Steve Fossett Update?

[Rivethead]

Since this is already off topic let me push just a tad further.

http://www.findmespot.com/

[Ron Lee]

This system looks promising and I almost bought one recently. It offers advantages over my 406 MHz PLB in that i could transmit my actual position every TBD minutes.

If Fossett had used it the search would have been much easier.

[scsmith]

I think the strong presumption at this point is that he is in Walker Lake. So make sure your personal locator device will work under water.

Steve
RV-8 finishing kit, panel wiring

[John Clark]

The new issue of FAA Aviation News has an article about training accident investigators. The lead photograph shows what Steve Fossett's airplane might look like. Very difficult to see from the air.

http://www.faa.gov/news/aviation_new...JanFeb2008.pdf

John Clark
RV8 N18U "Sunshine"
KSBA

[Ron Lee]

Here is my concern with my 406 MHz unit. Let's say that I activate it 10 years after I bought it. Since it will hardly have current orbital info on the satellites, it may take a while to acquire them before sending out a distress signal with GPS coordinates.

The Spot can be used to transmit your accurate position as often as you wish.

I intend to test the 406 MHz time to acquire and transmit a good position when it is time to replace the battery. I will call the organization responsible to coordinate the test.

[n5lp]

Originally Posted by Ron Lee

Here is my concern with my 406 MHz unit. Let's say that I activate it 10 years after I bought it. Since it will hardly have current orbital info on the satellites, it may take a while to acquire them before sending out a distress signal with GPS coordinates.

The Spot can be used to transmit your accurate position as often as you wish.

I intend to test the 406 MHz time to acquire and transmit a good position when it is time to replace the battery. I will call the organization responsible to coordinate the test.

I don't know what unit you have. With my ACR there are several tests you can do without notifying anyone. The text below is from the manual.

"The AeroFixTM 406 GPS P-ELT is fitted with an internal Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver that will determine the latitude and longitude of its position. To test the internal GPS you must be outdoors and have a clear view of the sky. The P-ELT must remain under observation in order to
witness the results of the test. In order to best view the results, avoid bright sunlight and noisy locations. Depress and hold the GPS I/O button until one Red LED flash, beep and one Green LED flash, beep are observed. (about 5 seconds apart) Then release the GPS I/O button. The live test of
the internal GPS has begun. The GPS will remain ON until LAT/LON position coordinates have been obtained or until 10 minutes has elapsed. If valid navigation data has been obtained, the GPS will be turned OFF and the green LED will light for at least 3 seconds. This LAT/LON data is not
saved for use when the P-ELT is turned ON. The green LED is proof that the GPS is functioning properly and that the P-ELT is in a location or environment where it can receive the necessary signals from satellites. If the GPS does not acquire good navigation data, the GPS will turn OFF after 10 minutes and there will be no successful green LED indication. This test should not be performed more than once during the five-year life of the battery pack to prevent excessive battery drain. "

Because of the caution about battery drain, I have not done this. If people are interested I will do it once and time the acquisition period.

[n5lp]

Originally Posted by Ron Lee

Here is my concern with my 406 MHz unit. Let's say that I activate it 10 years after I bought it. Since it will hardly have current orbital info on the satellites, it may take a while to acquire them before sending out a distress signal with GPS coordinates...

Ok, maybe no one else is interested but I thought you brought up a very valid concern Ron, so I checked it for my own amusement.

My ACR Aerofix is about 3 years old and has never been on in any way. I took it out to the front yard and set it on the mailbox. This is a very good but not perfect location, with moderate sized houses very close together and some trees. I placed it GPS antenna up and did the test.

It took 2 minutes 41 seconds to get a GPS position. I don't know how they can do it but there must be some very clever engineers out there.

[Ron Lee]

I checked my Fastfind Plus and did a self-test that was finished within 10 seconds or so inside. NO way did it get a GPS fix. In March 2010 I will be able to test it end to end if NOAA or whoever allows it.

[N941WR]

Court declares Steve Fossett dead: reports

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Missing millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett was declared legally dead on Friday by a Chicago court five months after the airplane he was flying disappeared over Nevada, media reported.

His wife, Peggy Fossett, had asked Cook County Circuit Court in Chicago to make the declaration in November. Her petition for a judicial finding of his death said investigators had concluded that Fossett's airplane was destroyed in a fatal accident.

"I believe the evidence is more than sufficient," Judge Jeffrey Malak of the circuit court said in ruling declaring Fossett was dead, the Chicago Tribune reported on its Web site.

Citing court records it said his estate was "vast" and worth more than eight figures -- or multiple millions of dollars.

Fossett, a 63-year-old holder of several aviation and sailing records, vanished with his airplane after taking off from a private airstrip in western Nevada, one of the most remote and uninhabited regions of the continental United States, on September 3. An exhaustive search failed to find any wreckage.

British entrepreneur Richard Branson, who teamed with Fossett on some ventures and underwrote his successful global plane flight, said in September Fossett was scouting dry lake beds as locations for a future attempt to set a world land speed record.

Fossett, who earned his fortune as a financial trader, in 2002 became the first person to fly a balloon solo around the world and in 2005 achieved the first solo nonstop flight around the world in the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer aircraft.

Last year Fossett flew solo in the GlobalFlyer to set the absolute nonstop distance record for any aircraft and set a new glider world altitude record with co-pilot Einar Enevoldson.

Fossett also competed in endurance competitions, swam the English Channel and set numerous world records in sailing.

(Writing by Michael Conlon, editing by Jackie Frank)

[RV10Hopeful]

Pilot's license found in Calif. may be Fossett's
By JULIANA BARBASSA (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press
October 01, 2008 4:12 PM EDT
SAN FRANCISCO - A hiker in a rugged part of eastern California found a pilot's license and other items possibly belonging to Steve Fossett, the adventurer who vanished on a solo flight in a borrowed plane more than a year ago, authorities said Wednesday.

The hiker, Preston Morrow, said he found a Federal Aviation Administration identity card, a pilot's license, a third ID and $1,005 in cash tangled in a bush off a trail just west of the town of Mammoth Lakes on Monday. He said he turned the items in to local police Wednesday, after unsuccessful attempts to contact Fossett's family.

Mammoth Lakes police Investigator Crystal Schafer confirmed that the department had the items, including the ones bearing Fossett's name.

Search teams led by the Madera County Sheriff's Department have been dispatched to the scene, and an air and ground effort was expected to be under way by afternoon, said sheriff's spokeswoman Erica Stewart.

Morrow said he found no sign of a plane or any human remains.

Fossett, whose exploits included circumnavigating the globe in a balloon, disappeared Sept. 3, 2007, after taking off in a single-engine plane borrowed from a Nevada ranch owned by hotel magnate Barron Hilton. A judge declared Fossett legally dead in February following a search for the famed aviator that covered 20,000 square miles.

Michael LoVallo, a lawyer for Fossett's widow, Peggy, said, "We are aware of the reports and are trying to verify the information."

Aviators had flown over Mammoth Lakes in the search for Fossett, but it had not been considered a likely place to find the plane. The most intense searching was concentrated to the north, given what searchers knew about sightings of Fossett's plane, his plans for when he had intended to return and the amount of fuel he had in the plane.

Morrow, 43, who works in a Mammoth Lakes sporting goods store, said he initially didn't know who Fossett was. It wasn't until he showed the items to co-workers Tuesday that one of them recognized Fossett's name.

"It was just weird to find that much money in the backcountry, and the IDs," he said. "My immediate thought was it was a hiker or backpacker's stuff, and a bear got to the stuff and took it away to look for food or whatever."

Morrow said he returned to the scene with a friend Tuesday to search further and did not find any airplane wreckage or human remains. They did find a black Nautica pullover fleece, size XL, in the same area, but he said he wasn't sure if the items were related.

Morrow said he consulted local attorney David Baumwohl, and they initially tried to contact the Fossett family but were unable to get through to their lawyers.

"We figured if it was us, we'd want to know first. We wouldn't want to learn from the news," Baumwohl said.

Baumwohl and Morrow tried to contact the law firm that handled the death declaration. When they weren't successful, they decided to turn everything over to the police, the attorney said.

Mammoth Lakes is at an elevation of more than 7,800 feet on the eastern flank of the Sierra Nevada, where peaks top 13,000 feet. This year's biggest search for Fossett focused on Nevada's Wassuk Range, more than 50 miles north of Mammoth Lakes. That search ended last month.

One of Fossett's friends reacted to Wednesday's news with cautious optimism.

If the belongings turn out to be authentic, then that could help narrow the search area for possible wreckage, said Ray Arvidson, a scientist at Washington University who worked on Fossett's past balloon flights.

"It would be nice to get closure," Arvidson said.

Fossett made a fortune trading futures and options on Chicago markets. He gained worldwide fame for more than 100 attempts and successes in setting records in high-tech balloons, gliders, jets and boats. In 2002, he became the first person to circle the world solo in a balloon. He was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in July 2007.