Steve Fossett, the U.S. millionaire adventurer who made record-breaking solo flights around the world by plane and balloon, and the man I had the chance to interview a few years ago, is still missing tonight. According to news reports, Fossett was last seen Monday morning taking off in a small plane from a ranch in Nevada. Today, more than a dozen planes spent hours searching rough, mountainous terrain for any sign of Fossett and his missing single-engine aircraft.
British entrepreneur Richard Branson told reporters Fossett planned the flight to scout dry lakebeds as locations for a future attempt to set a world land speed record.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the 63-year-old adventure junkie, Fossett made headlines in 2002 when became the first person to fly around the world alone in a balloon. In two weeks, his balloon flew more than 19,400 miles around the Southern Hemisphere. Three years later Fossett broke another record when he made the first solo, non-stop, non-refueled flight around the world in the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer aircraft.
The Stanford alum has also climbed some of the world’s tallest peaks, including the Matterhorn in Switzerland and Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. In 1985 he swam the English Channel and a few years later placed 47th in the Iditarod dog sled race. Before setting his flight records Fossett participated in the 24 Hours of Le Mans car race in 1996.
It was a few years later that I would get the opportunity to meet and interview Fossett in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. (I was working as a reporter for a local TV station at the time.) Oshkosh is home to the Experimental Aircraft Association and Fossett is a regular visitor to the annual convention held there each summer. In fact, Fossett was just in Oshkosh about six weeks ago speaking to aviation enthusiasts about his record-setting altitude flight of the Perlan glider. He also flew the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer to Oshkosh in 2005 after that aircraft completed the first around-the-world, non-stop solo flight. In addition, Fossett’s record-setting balloon capsule (the closet-sized unit where he lived for 14 days) was displayed in the EAA’s Oshkosh museum shortly after he made history in it.
My interaction with Fossett was limited to a 3-minute live interview on our morning show. It was short and sweet, and he told me something I will never forget. Fossett never wanted to be regarded as a daredevil. Rather, it was his goal to be portrayed as a methodically prepared aviator who enjoyed testing the limits of aviation technology.
No one knows if Fossett is dead or alive, but I have a feeling the people that know him best have no doubt that this aviation legend is likely somewhere in Nevada waiting to be found. And when he is he’s going to give some reporter one heck of an interview.
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