Fears grow for missing Fossett

Fears were growing today for the safety of adventurer Steve Fossett who was flying across a rugged mountainous area in Nevada notorious for treacherous winds when he disappeared three days ago.

The world aviation record-holder was last seen taking off from the Hilton Ranch, south of Smith Valley, on Monday night in a single-engined aircraft.

American pilots speculated that the 63-year-old might have fallen victim to the treacherous and sometimes deadly winds that squeeze through the narrow canyons.

British tycoon Richard Branson, who funded Mr Fossett’s record-breaking attempts, said that if anybody could glide the plane to safety it was Mr Fossett.

Members of the US National Guard and helicopters with infrared and thermal-imaging equipment have joined the search, but the authorities predict it will take at least a week to cover the 600 square mile search area.

Adam Mayberry, former spokesman for the Reno-Tahoe International Airport, said the American businessman was flying in an area of desert notorious for winds so powerful and tricky they can swirl an airplane like a leaf and even shear off a wing.

“There’s been times when I’ve been flying in the wind and my blood turns cold,” he said.

Branson backed his friend Mr Fossett to return safe and well, but added: “If the worse comes to the worse… Steve’s lived his life to the full, and he hasn’t wasted a minute of his life.”

He said: “He’s the number one gliding pilot in the world, as well as the number one aviator in the world… If anybody could have glided this plane down, it would have been him.”

Virgin Atlantic president Branson said he and others were working with Google to study pictures from space that might help them determine the plane’s direction and “whether there was anything unusual”.

Branson said his friend was a “tough old boot” who has had “far tougher challenges to overcome in the past”.

Mr Fossett was searching for empty and dry lake beds which might be suitable for a forthcoming world land speed record attempt in a car.

The American millionaire businessman, who holds the record for flying further than anyone in history, was the first person to fly solo around the world in a balloon, and the first person to fly a plane solo around the world without refuelling.

Mr Fossett took off at about 9am local time on Monday from a private airstrip on a ranch owned by hotel tycoon Barron Hilton south of Smith Valley in western Nevada.

When he did not return by noon as scheduled, a friend reported him missing.

It is understood he would have had four to five hours of fuel in the plane and was not wearing a parachute.

The search teams’ job was complicated because Mr Fossett did not file a flight plan, which he was not required to do, but which could have helped find him.

No signal has been picked up from the ELT locator beacon on the aircraft, which has the tail number N-240R and is blue and white with orange stripes and blue sunburst designs on top of the wings.

Friends said Mr Fossett also has a special Breitling Emergency watch which he could use to give out a signal to show his location, but he has not done so.