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In The News: The Search for Steve Fossett

With all of the political and economic news filling the newspapers and television and computer screens lately, I wanted to be sure you hadn't missed the latest on the search for Steve Fossett.

For those who may not be familiar with the story or the man, adventurer Steve Fossett, who made his fortune in the commodities market and gained fame for setting records in balloons, gliders, jets and boats, vanished on Sept. 3, 2007, after taking off from a Nevada ranch to scout locations for an attempt to break the land speed record in a rocket-propelled car.

In 2002, Mr. Fossett became the first person to circle the globe in a hot air balloon. Among his other accomplishments are a swim across the English Channel, an Ironman triathlon, an Iditarod dog sled race and successful climbs of the Matterhorn and Mount Kilimanjaro. Pretty amazing stuff.

But apparently Steve Fossett's luck ran out when his single-engine Bellanca smashed head-on into a mountainside in the Inyo National Forest near the town of Mammoth Lakes, California. Fossett's disappearance had prompted a huge search effort covering more than 20,000 square miles, but the breakthrough didn't come till late September, when a hiker stumbled across his pilot's license and other ID cards about a quarter-mile from where the plane wreckage was later found. A two-inch bone fragment was also discovered, large enough for DNA tests to be performed.

You can read the entire AP article here.

Added 7/10: Strong Winds Probably Cause Of Fossett Crash