Steven Fosset Missing

[American Patriot]

Fosset went missing sometime after 0900 Nevada time yesterday in a 2- seater, single engine aircraft.

Civil Air Patrol, and local military forces are doing search and rescue operations between Reno and another area, along rugged terrian, along the Cali-Nev border region.

[American Patriot]

CARSON VALLEY — Searchers are looking for world aviation record holder Steve Fossett, who was reported missing Monday night.
Fossett, 63, was last seen taking off from the Hilton Ranch south of Smith
Valley in a single engine Citabria Super Decathlon heading south.
Civil Air Patrol Nevada Wing Mission Public Information Officer Maj. Cynthia
S. Ryan said three crews are in the air looking for Fossett’s blue and white
aircraft and that more are on the way.
“We will be launching more shortly,” she said.
The search area covers hundreds of square miles of rugged terrain. The Civil
Air Patrol has called area airports looking for Fossett.
Fossett made the first solo nonstop, non-refueled circumnavigation of the
world in 67 hours in the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer. In 2002 he was the
first person to solo around the world in a balloon. He holds several world
soaring records, according to his Web site, stevefossett.com.
He was in Sparks in August preparing a jet vehicle to break the land speed
record at Bonneville Flats.

[American Patriot]

Web searchers may have found Fossett’s missing plane
Geek.com ^ | 9/13/07 | Doug Osborne

Steve Fossett is still missing since his plane plane disappeared on September 3 while searching for areas to attempt a new land speed record. Searching approximately 7,500 square miles, local authorities and the Air Force have yet to find the missing adventurer, but some high-tech images and assistance from the Internet community may have aided in spotting Fossett’s missing plane.

Web users have come to the aid of rescuers by examining numerous satellite images using a service by Amazon.com called Mechanical Turk. According to AVweb, an aviation news resource, it is possible that one of the Web spotters found Fossett’s missing Bellanca Citabria Super Decathlon on a mountain side.

“Sure, it’s a long shot, but AVweb readers taking part in the Mechanical Turk effort to locate Steve Fossett through Google Earth imagery has found something that doesn’t look like it belongs on a mountainside. Have a close look at the accompanying image. It looks to us like it could be the fuselage and wings of a small plane. We’ll likely know soon enough if this is Fossett’s Super Decathlon (or a combination of rock and shadow that looks like it) but in the meantime, the important thing is to keep looking, ” says the posting on AVweb. “Humans are still much better at picking objects out of photos that don’t appear to belong there than computers are.”

Read more at Wired.

Thanks to iturk for the heads-up.

Doug’s Opinion

This is not the first time the Internet community has been asked to help out with searching for something. For years, the SETI@home project has been letting volunteers offer computational power on their computer to analyze radio telescope signals for sentient life among the stars. This is one case, however, where people can feel directly involved in a project versus letting a computer do the work for them.

If this Internet search for Fossett is successful, this could mark a new trend in Web volunteers being used to help find missing people quickly over vast amounts of search area. It only makes sense: the greater number of people scouring satellite imagery will dramatically increase the odds of discovering something while using less resources. Sure, searching for Fossett’s small plane in 7,500 of rugged terrain is like looking for a needle in a haystack, but the more people you have looking for it, the greater the chance that someone is going to find something.

[American Patriot]

Geeks Spot Fossett?

By David Axe September 12, 2007 | 7:25:00 AMCategories: Roll Your Own


Aviation adventurer Steve Fossett went missing while flying over Nevada a week ago Monday. The cops can't find him. The Air Force can't find him. (They did spot 6 other previously unknown wrecks, though.) But maybe, just maybe, a geek sitting at his computer succeeded where the government failed. Using an Amazon.com service called Mechanical Turk, web users have been scouring massive amounts of satellite imagery in an effort to assist rescue workers. And one of them may have spotted Fossett's plane, according to AVweb (registration required):

Sure, it's a long shot, but AVweb readers taking part in the Mechanical Turk effort to locate Steve Fossett through Google Earth imagery has found something that doesn't look like it belongs on a mountainside. Have a close look at the accompanying image. It looks to us like it could be the fuselage and wings of a small plane. We'll likely know soon enough if this is Fossett's Super Decathlon (or a combination of rock and shadow that looks like it) but in the meantime, the important thing is to keep looking.

"Humans are still much better at picking objects out of photos that don't appear to belong there than computers are," AVweb points out:

Those logging on are asked to have a detailed look at each image they receive. If they spot something that could be Fossett's plane, they are asked to mark that image with a click on the appropriate selection. That will put the image into a higher level of rotation and if others also mark it, it will result in a team of search specialists viewing the image and possibly alerting rescue officials.

Is it just me, or does it seem like this service could have massive implications for a sort of civilian-powered populist intel service to aid the hunt for terrorists? Anyways ... more on the Fossett search here.

[American Patriot]

Search Resumes For Missing Adventurer Steve Fossett
http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news..._198307-1.html ^

A team of searchers is back in the mountains of Nevada this week, hoping to find an answer to the mystery of Steve Fossett's disappearance. Fossett, a well-known pilot and adventurer, vanished last September while flying near a friend's ranch in a Super Decathlon. An extensive aerial and ground search, plus worldwide efforts using satellite imagery, failed to turn up any trace of Fossett or his airplane, and in February a court declared him legally dead....

(Excerpt) Read more at avweb.com ...