Here are the excuses as to why Ed Dames and his team didn't find Fossett. This was posted on his forum on Monday and was sent to George Snoory.
George,
Here are some photos and a short video clip from our Saturday recon -- and here is the 'picture':
My team could not find a pilot foolish (or crazy) enough to brave those mountain winds, which can reach in excess of 100 mph. In fact, our work indicates that this is exactly what took Fossett down; his aircraft, at that altitude, did not have enough power to climb. What he was most likely doing, I believe, is scouting out a place for his next sponsored glider contest (Steve began his career as a glider pilot and, like everything else he took on, became accomplished at it).
But, as luck would have it, my team was approached by three men who asked them if they had a brush to brush the snow off of their airplane. Turns out that these guys were Russian airline pilots (flying for Czech Airlines) who were taking time off to sightsee the great American West. One was a former military pilot. After a little negotiating, they agreed to take my team up for a very reasonable fee -- all things considered, since they would all probably die.
The aircraft was a Cessna 172. This would be the minimum requirement to make it (in one piece) to the search area. It took 30 minutes just to climb to 10,000' AGL. Unfortunately, for safety reasons -- not wanting to repeat Fossett's error and meet an identical fate -- the pilots had to maintain 4,000' above the target area. This, plus the snow, made visual sighting over such a large search area virtually useless. Furthermore, the aircraft was being buffetted so much that, at times, heads were hitting the roof of the cabin -- binocular observation was thus out of the question; Mr. Toad's Wild Ride...
But, as usual from any recon, we learned what to do to adjust our game plan. Here's where we go from here:
1. We need to determine an absolute pinpoint fix -- 100 meters vs. 1-mile box.
2. If we are going to go in by air again during the winter, I will need a Bell Jet Ranger. Because I can't afford to rent one, I will buy Spot imagery of the pinpoint location, as soon as we nail it down. Even with snow, and possible forest, cover, there may be visible traces of the crash.
3. If we cannot obtain overhead photo confirmation, then we will wait for the spring to trek as close to the fix point as possible.
(A shot in the dark, but there is a USMC mountain warfare training base in that area. Perhaps I can coax the commander to 'take a hike')
The forces that be terminated the largest civilian search on record. My team will terminate the search when we find Steve Fossett...
Doom
http://www.LearnRV.com/ProjectData/Recon-1.jpg
http://www.LearnRV.com/ProjectData/Recon-2.jpg
http://www.LearnRV.com/ProjectData/Recon-3.jpg
http://www.LearnRV.com/ProjectData/Recon-4.jpg
http://www.LearnRV.com/ProjectData/Recon-5.jpg
http://www.LearnRV.com/ProjectData/Recon-6.mpg
Why can't he afford to rent a Bell Jet Ranger? This is the guy who can remote view the lottery and win mega bucks in Vegas.
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