Fossett’s plane slammed into a mountain

THIRTEEN months after millionaire thrill-seeker Steve Fossett mysteriously disappeared, authorities finally know what happened to his small single-engine airplane: It slammed straight into a mountain on a cloudy day.

“It was a hard-impact crash, and he would’ve died instantly,” said Jeff Page, emergency management coordinator for Lyon County, Nevada, who assisted in the search.

The debris, hidden from view for more than a year, littered an area longer than a football field and nearly as wide as a steep Sierra Nevada mountainside some 10,000 feet above sea level.