Court declares Steve Fossett dead
By AOPA ePublishing staff
A Chicago court has declared 63-year-old adventurer Steve Fossett dead following failed efforts to find him and his borrowed Super Decathlon in the Nevada desert.
Fossett disappeared last September. A massive effort using every known means of search technology, including satellite photos reviewed by people around the world, didn’t turn up anything besides the discovery of other crash sites.
Testing the limits of human endurance was his passion as expressed through setting records on land, sea, and in the air. National Aeronautic Association official Art Greenfield said Fossett has 10 aerostat records (balloons, for the most part), one airship record, 32 airplane records, and 14 glider records, for a total of 57 aviation record flights.
The New York Times recently reported Fossett also has 23 world records in sailing. It will take a very long time for those records to fall, assuring him a firm place in history.
February 21, 2008
