Crews search Fossett crash scene for his remains

By Jim Christie

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Crews searched an eastern California mountain range for the remains of adventurer Steve Fossett after finding the wreckage of a small plane thought to be the one he was piloting when he disappeared in September 2007, police said on Thursday.

The wreckage and debris of the airplane in rugged terrain suggest a violent and direct crash, said Shannon Kendall, a spokeswoman for the Mono County Sheriff's Department. The plane's engine was 300 feet (95 meters) away from what remained of its fuselage.

"It's not intact by any means ... It looks like a very high impact crash," she said. "We're still searching for human remains."

The federal National Transportation Safety Board has sent an investigator to the site in the area near the Nevada border and said in a statement the small airplane found late on Wednesday "appears to be the aircraft piloted by Steve Fossett."

The plane wreckage was located about 10,000 feet (3,200 meters) up the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the vicinity of Mammoth Lakes, California.

Fossett, 63 and a millionaire, vanished in a single-engine Bellanca Citabria Super Decathlon after taking off on September 3 of last year from the airstrip of hotel magnate Barron Hilton's ranch in Nevada. He did not file a flight plan but friends said he was going on a casual pleasure flight.

The Bellanca, a plane capable of aerobatics, had enough fuel for four or five hours of flight.

When Fossett did not return, a massive search was launched for the adventurer who held several aviation and sailing records.