Hey!!! I can see my house....

No wonder he didn't answer when Mr Scout and I were out there on the four-wheelers hollering, "Steve!!!!!"

Gump

svanarts wrote:

iceman wrote:Does anyone know exactly where the crash site is in relation to the town...I was surprised to hear it was that far south and I have doubts as to his reason for the flight.

According to the coordinates given earlier on this thread:

My Google map of Fossett's crash site

The top pin is the Flying M, the bottom pin is his crash site. He was aways away.

wow now that's farther west than I would have thought. [img]No%20land%20speed%20record%20sites%20there!%20He%20was%20probably%20just%20siteseeing.[/img]

I guy I work with also fly's for CAP. He said before they try to remove any parts of the aircraft, CAP plans to fly over the crash site many times, take pictures and analize the crash site and pictures and try to figure out why no one had seen the wreckage before. He said CAP alone had flown over the site about 19 times. But it looks like the wreckage is pretty mangled and would have been hard to see, I would think.

A good lesson learned here would be not to play around that type of terrian in an underpowered plane. Makes me think about always flying with my SPOT on with the tracking activated. Also, my ELT is in the very aft part of my plane and would think it will survive a severe impact. Does anyone have any input on that?

58Skylane wrote:
A good lesson learned here would be not to play around that type of terrian in an underpowered plane.

Any type of airplane might be a better statement.

A decathlon is hardly considered an under powered airplane. It has a way higher climb rate than your 182.

And for strength its a +6 -5 G airplane probably twice that of your 182

As for your spot surviving I doubt it will. But isn't that the whole idea, track you to the crash site.

Mr. Scout you are very correct.

Power or not, the conditions of the day are the most important. The Owens Valley and the White Mountains are known to have WORLD CLASS conditions for soaring. Pilots fly there in sailplanes, hangliders, and paragliders breaking records all the time. They weigh FAR less with no power, yet work WITH the conditions to make epic flights. Just because we have an engine and weigh 1-2000 lbs. more doesn't mean much really.

I owned an AC Scout before my 180 and crossed the Sierras in it alot. Great power down low but humbling at 12,000'. Flying in my O-520 powered 180 I got sucked down at 1000' fpm this spring at full climb power and 1/4 tanks over by Bridgeport. Its is a humbling, scary place with wind. More than once I crossed east to west at 13,000' with a ground speed of 42 knots until I got past the crest, not in the rotor fortunately. That's a good 110 knots of headwind in the 180. I was not enjoying myself. As soon as you pass the compressed air at the crest the wind slowly dies as you fly west. At about 3-4000' AGL its back to normal. Crazy.

Last Friday I had an important meeting to attend in South Lake Tahoe. I watched the weather forecast during the week and it looked like 2 cold fronts were arriving Thursday and Friday. The forecast was typically conservative and I thought there was a chance I could fly.

On Thursday, the forecast became a little clearer. I probably could go based on clouds and freezing level. But what made me decide not to fly was the 170 KT Jet Stream forecast for the area. I could see myself coming over Echo Summit and catching a big downdraft.

So, I drove, and I was glad I did. As I approached Echo Summit in the car, I could see the lenticular clouds over the ridge. After I was at the SLT, there was plenty of wind and more lenticular clouds over the east shore ridge.

I am guessing it would have been a wild ride.

I have had the crap beat out of me crossing the Sierras. Mostly further north near Mt. Lassen. I crossed not to far from where Fossett was found a few years back and felt just how small my plane and I were. It is a beautiful site, but sobering to think about emergency landing, very vertical terrain. Not many options.

More bones found at Fossett's crash site.

http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?cont ... 7fefce40b1

MADERA, Calif. (AP) - Authorities said Monday they have positively identified some of Steve Fossett's remains: two large bones found a half-mile from where the adventurer's plane crashed in California's Sierra Nevada.

Madera County Sheriff John Anderson said DNA tests conducted by the state Department of Justice positively identified the bones as the remains of the millionaire aviator who disappeared last year.

Anderson has declined to say what bones were found, saying he didn't want to cause the family further anguish.

Fossett's widow, Peggy Fossett, released a statement thanking authorities for their work.

"I am hopeful that the DNA identification puts a definitive end to all of the speculation surrounding Steve's death. This has been an incredibly difficult time for me, and I am thankful to everyone who helped bring closure to this tragedy," she said.

The bones were discovered last week, along with Fossett's tennis shoes and Illinois driver's license, which had animal bite marks on them.

Fossett disappeared in September 2007 after taking off from a Nevada ranch owned by hotel magnate Barron Hilton for what was supposed to be a short pleasure flight. Law enforcement, fellow aviators and others launched a costly search that covered 20,000 square miles but turned up empty.

The wreckage of Fossett's plane was discovered last month after a hiker walking off trail in the Sierra Nevada near Mammoth Lakes stumbled across Fossett's pilot's license and a wad of weathered $100 bills. Authorities said Fossett likely died on impact.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the cause of the crash.

Hafast wrote: pilot's license and a wad of weathered $100 bills. Authorities said Fossett likely died on impact.

I wonder if the newspaper article that reports the discovery of my mortal remains will find the wad of $1 bills in my wallet notable?

I don't know about you........but I consider a wad.......2.