MINDEN, Nev.: A few years back, after six friends climbed
Granite Peak in Montana, five of them pulled off their helmets
to pose for a summit photo. The one who did not, Steve Fossett,
told his friends that it was unsafe to remove the helmet, even
after the climb was over.
Patrick Arbor, one of Mr. Fossett's companions on that and
many other outdoors adventures, stared at that photo, on his
desk in his Chicago office, on Thursday as he wondered where
the renowned adventurer might be.
Mr. Fossett, 63, who holds more than 110 aviation, boating
and land-speed records, vanished Monday after taking off in
a single-engine aerobatic plane for a recreational jaunt in
northern Nevada. He was expected back a few hours later at the
Flying M Ranch, an aviation resort owned by the hotel magnate
William Barron Hilton, but never returned.
"He's absolutely not a reckless person, he's a very cautious,
methodical person," said Mr. Arbor, a former Chicago Board of
Trade chairman who has known Mr. Fossett for more than 30 years.
"I have traveled all over the world with him. I kind of joke
that traveling with him is like traveling with a wandering drugstore
because he travels with all kinds of antibiotics and such. He
takes risks, but not reckless risks."
Although the aircraft he flew, a blue-and-white Citabria Super
Decathlon, is an aerobatic plane, friends said Mr. Fossett did
not enjoy doing airplane tricks and was most likely scouting
dry lake beds in the high desert region where he might try to
break the land-speed record in a race car sometime in 2008.
An exhaustive air and land search for Mr. Fossett continued
Thursday involving more than a dozen aircraft and more than
200 volunteers.
Gary Derks, a spokesman for the Nevada Emergency Management
Division, said such searches can go on for weeks, recalling
one three years ago that took more than a month before rescue
crews gave up. Neither the crash victims nor their wreckage
were ever found, he said.
Mr. Arbor said that he spoke Wednesday to Mr. Fossett's wife,
Peggy, who is helping direct the search from the Flying M Ranch.
Mrs. Fossett, who "seemed composed until the end of our conversation,"
was displeased with the search on Tuesday when high winds cut
short some parts of the mission, but "felt on Wednesday it was
going much better," Mr. Arbor said. The Fossetts, married more
than 39 years, have no children.
In addition to planes with infrared detection capable of searching
at night and boats prowling nearby Walker Lake with sonar, a
plane from the Utah Wing of the Civil Air Patrol arrived Wednesday
with equipment capable of collecting hyperspectral and panchromatic
images far more detailed than plain sight or ordinary photography
can gather.
Rick Cronk, a friend of Mr. Fossett's and president of the
Boy Scouts of America, said it was discouraging that there had
been no contact despite word that Mr. Fossett had a watch with
global positioning capabilities and a plane with an electronic
beacon. Mr. Fossett, chairman of the National Eagle Scouts Association,
is "among the most resourceful people I know," he said.
"He knows what to do," Mr. Cronk said. "You don't move. You
stay put so people can find you. You draw attention to yourself
by setting a fire or drawing straight lines in the desert, doing
something man-made. You have to be creative."
