On September 3, 2007, James Stephen Fossett, an American aviator, sailor, adventurer, and holder of 116 records in five different sports (60 of which still stand), took off in a single-engine Bellanca Super Decathlon airplane from a private airstrip known as Flying-M Ranch near Smith Valley, Nevada. The ranch and airfield (guarded by Blackwater during the later search and rescue effort) are owned by Barron Hilton. The flight was expected to last 3 hours. Six hours after takeoff Fossett was reported missing and a search for him and his plane was begun. Although many privately-funded search efforts have continued, the search was officially called off on October 2nd. One month later, his wife requested that Fossett be declared legally dead and on February 15th of this year her request was granted.

Now, in the mold of the National Enquirer’s dubious claim of John Edward’s mistress and love child, comes the Daily Mail’s strongly-suggested claim of Fossett’s pseudocide, i.e., he faked his death, suggestions also made by many other, and mostly more reliable, sources.

The Daily Mail article does raise some intriguing points. Here are a few of them:

* Despite extensive and sophisticated and hugely expensive searches, no body or plane wreckage has been found.
* He did not file a flight plan (he was not required to do this).
* Although he had always worn it, he left his global positioning system watch, with an emergency transponder, behind. The plane was fitted with a satellite rescue beacon to alert rescuers to his position if he crashed, but no signal was ever received and the beacon has never been located.
* Even with cool weather, and very cold nights, he wore only a T-shirt and shorts and had no parachute or blankets with him. He carried only one bottle of water.
* He left without an emergency kit, something he is not known to have ever done.
* Only one person claims to have seen the flight take off.
* Rescue investigators discovered that Fossett, married for 38 years to childhood sweetheart Peggy, had at least two mistresses and was living a secret double life. There are suggestions that he was in financial trouble and feared a ruinous divorce if his philandering was discovered.

Steve Fossett’s widow has dismissed faked death claims, but there are certainly financial reasons for her to do so.

Here’s more about Fossett, including his possible pseudocide, and a google search for “Steve Fossett, faked death” will keep you busy for a long time. The Chicago Magazine has this article, Without A Trace.

Hey! It’s good to be back home at Blue Herald!