I got to wonder if he decided to just dissapear…
More like the next Amelia Earhart.
He is coyote food by now, too bad a fool with too much money.
There is something mysterious about this story. At the time he disappeared he was flying a fairly simple aircraft with a good glide ratio in great weather over fairly reasonable terrain. All of these qualities make for the perfect environment for an emergency landing. It’s hard for me to understand why he hasn’t been found. He’s a very experienced pilot and absent a major structural failure he should have been able to safely land his aircraft.
He is a nut job…his balloon deal was started (take off) in a quarry that is not 500 feet from my home. He flew just over my roof in his aluminum foil balloon.
No, there is more to this story. He may be a “nut job” but he is also an accomplished aviator with tremendous experience.
Could be as simple as a heart attack.
**Could be as simple as a heart attack. **
Good point and one I didn’t consider.
I think he’s a righteous dude. If I had money, I’d do all kinds of crazy cool stuff, too. Just because I could.
Maybe
He took a hit on stocks - The wife wants half in the divorce - some cancer is chewing on him . Fakes a disappearance , while he enjoys a few good months / years in south America , maybe give the money to R. Branson for some philanthropic goal . No body found he is not dead its all in limbo.
Better a man of mystery disappearing than dieing the old fat guy with more money than God .
Heli.
I’m baffled by the hostility in this thread, especially from so-called athletes who are more than a little obsessed with gear and pushing the limits. Fossett is a guy who has taken some pretty impressive risks and pushed the bounds of technology. I’m not sure I see what is wrong with that and frankly there is much to be admired. If he’s dead, at least he died while doing something he loved. And for God’s sake, his wife is suffering now – stupid speculation about fake disappearance and divorce is immature and downright disrespectful. I suppose I should expect it by now from some of our ST community.
Yes, agreed. If I was eloquent and smart, I would have written what you wrote instead of what I wrote. I still respect his life choices and admire his sense of joie de vivre. I hope this story has a happy ending, but I fear it will not.
“And for God’s sake, his wife is suffering now – stupid speculation about fake disappearance and divorce is immature and downright disrespectful. I suppose I should expect it by now from some of our ST community”
I think she is past worrying or suffering , with all of his records . He normally comes back alive .
"Disrespecting a rich risk taker " for crashing ??? Guilty as charged .
You could have wrote a post addressed to me , instead of a few lines on the bottom of another post . I feel your Dising me.
Nut + $$$ = ex-centric risk taker . Heli
One news article notes he “always” wears a Breitling Emergency watch, which apparently can emit a user-activated signal with radius of 100 miles for 2-days. For whatever reason, I guess search crews have not located such a signal. Could mean a lot of things…maybe he wasn’t actually wearing the watch that day, but interesting nonetheless.
“Fossett is a guy who has taken some pretty impressive risks and pushed the bounds of technology. I’m not sure I see what is wrong with that and frankly there is much to be admired. If he’s dead, at least he died while doing something he loved.”
I agree 100%. Even if it turns out that he has met his demise, he will at least have pursued his dreams, enjoyed an extraordinary life, and demonstrated to others how human limits could be overcome. That’s highly admirable in my book.
Interesting to note that he also is (or was) an Ironman finisher and an English channel swimmer. If activities like that make him a nut, I guess a lot of us on this forum are nuts too.
" too bad a fool with too much money. "
I give up. Why is he a fool, and how do you define “too much money”?
I most definitely was “dissing” you. I replied to Monk because I like him and he usually gets where I’m coming from.
Why is he a fool
Because he took a lot of unnecessary risks for no reason other than to alleviate his boredom?
how do you define “too much money”?
I add on " . . . for his own good," and let you do the math.
I’m baffled by the hostility in this thread, especially from so-called athletes who are more than a little obsessed with gear and pushing the limits.
Bunch of jealous jerks.
His plane also had an emergency beacon that automatically activates if there is an unexpected landing. I’m not sure how harden against impact those devices are, but I would assume they must be pretty robust to survive a crash. If he crashed, why didn’t the beacon activate?
I know Area 51/Groom Lake is in Southern Nevada, but does anyone know if there are any other super secret 
military bases in the part of Nevada he was flying over?