Missing Fossett declared dead by judge

Millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett has been declared dead by a Chicago judge five months after his plane disappeared.

The 63-year-old went missing on September 3 after taking off in a single-engine plane from a Nevada airstrip.

The judge, Jeffrey Malak, heard testimony from Fossett’s wife, Peggy, and a family friend as well as a search-and-rescue expert before deciding there was sufficient evidence to declare him dead.

Fossett earned millions of dollars trading futures and options on Chicago exchanges.

Attorneys representing his estate had filed a petition to have him declared legally dead so his assets could be distributed according to his will.

Fossett was a record-setting balloonist, sailor and pilot who completed nonstop flights around the world.

Mrs Fossett’s lawyer, Michael LoVallo, said: “It was very sad and at first she hoped and sort of envisioned him walking down the road the next day with another story to tell.

“But as the days went on, she realised it wasn’t going to happen as it had on other occasions when he’d had close calls.”

Fossett was on a pleasure flight when he vanished and not looking for a dry lake bed to use as a surface on which to set the world land speed record, as was initially reported.

Dozens of planes and helicopters spent more than a month searching the rugged western Nevada mountains before the effort was called off as winter approached.

The search area covered 20,000 square miles and, according to the Reno Gazette-Journal, about 15 to 20 private planes have vanished in the area since 1950.

In 2005, wreckage was found in Kings Canyon National Park from a plane that went down during World War II.

Mr LoVallo said Mrs Fossett would like to recover the remains “and really find out what happened”. Plans are to resume a recovery search in the spring.