03 October 2008

The reports of his death are true

al-Reuters has the latest on Steve Fossett in an article by Jim Christie:
Crash site investigators found human remains amid the wreckage of Steve Fossett's small plane on a remote California mountain, the chief of the National Transportation Safety Board said on Thursday.
Parts of the small plane lost more than a year ago were scattered over a large debris field at around 10,000 feet on a mountain near the Nevada border, and search crews found a "very small" amount of human remains, Mark Rosenker, acting NTSB chairman, told Reuters by telephone. "Did we find some? Yes, a very, very small amount," Rosenker said.
Fossett, 63, vanished after taking off in a single-engine Bellanca Citabria Super Decathlon on 3 September 2007 from the airstrip of hotel magnate Barron Hilton's ranch in Nevada, sparking a long but fruitless search. The finding of human remains may close months of debate over whether the millionaire adventurer actually died, although Rosenker said local officials would be responsible for examining the remains. "It will be taken by the sheriff and the coroner and they will do the work," Rosenker said. A local sheriff's official said a bone had been found at the crash site but declined to say if it was human or animal.
Clues to Fossett's disappearance came suddenly this week when a hiker not far from Yosemite National Park found identification cards and cash, prompting a full-on search that uncovered the crash site.
Investigators confirmed on Thursday the small plane was the one in which Fossett took off a year ago.
Parts of the aircraft were scattered over a swath of mountain 150 feet wide by almost 400 feet long. A helicopter ferried investigators close to the site and will be used to haul away pieces of the plane on Friday -- before a snow storm sweeps in.
Despite weeks of extensive land and air searches after Fossett disappeared last year, no wreckage was found, and he was declared legally dead in February after investigators concluded his plane was destroyed in a fatal accident.
Even before Thursday, family and friends took the week's events as an end to the saga. "The uncertainty surrounding my husband's death over this past year has created a very difficult situation for me," said his widow, Peggy Fossett. "I hope now to be able to bring to closure a very painful chapter in my life."

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