LAS VEGAS -- Hopes may be fading for finding adventurer Steve
Fossett alive, but the search for the missing adventurer has
been intensified, with a high of 36 planes in the skies looking
for him Wednesday and Thursday morning.
The three dozen planes are staffed by personnel from five
wings of the Civil Air Patrol and National Guard officers from
Nevada and California. On the ground are sheriff's deputies
from six counties in both states.
The effort was suspended at 11 a.m. Thursday because of high
winds, but the mammoth search is easily the largest most have
ever seen in this region.
Fossett's wife, Peggy, and the couple's wealthy friends have
donated planes and personnel. Mr. Fossett disappeared during
a weekend visit to a posh ranch about 90 miles southeast of
Reno owned by their friend William Barron Hilton, the hotel
magnate.
"This is a little bit different because Mr. Fossett has so
many friends and he's a world-class aviator and glider, and
he enjoys great fame," said Gary Derks, spokesman for the Nevada
Office of Emergency Management.
The resources available may be exceptional, but the length
of the search and the involvement of so many agencies are not,
said Civil Air Patrol Acting National Commander Brig. Gen. Amy
Courter.
Thus far, the search has failed to turn up the 63-year-old
record-setting aviator, but it has located seven previously
undiscovered plane wrecks in the rugged mountains. Searchers
intend to return to those crash sites once the Fossett mission
ends, but did not investigate them immediately except to determine
they weren't Fossett's blue-and-white single-engine Citabria
Super Decathlon, said Civil Air Patrol Nevada Wing Maj. Cynthia
S. Ryan. One of those planes had external military markings,
Ryan said.
