Record Setting Pilot Steve Fossett Missing in Nevada

Fossett reportedly left a private airstrip on a ranch south of Smith Valley in western Nevada Monday. He was flying a single engine Bellanca airplane.

Steve Fossett Photo courtesy: Wickepedia

(RENO, Nev.) - Media sources are reporting the disappearance of a small plane carrying Steve Fossett, the first pilot to fly around the world solo without refueling.

Fossett is best known for his five world record non-stop solo circumnavigations of the Earth. He is also a long-distance solo balloonist, and sailor.

Chuck Allen with the Nevada Highway Patrol, told Salem-News.com that there is no sign of Fossett yet.

"Yesterday he left at 9:00 AM hoping to complete ground recon on a project he is working on and he never came back."

Fossett reportedly left a private airstrip on a ranch south of Smith Valley in western Nevada Monday. He was flying a single engine Bellanca airplane.

It is not clear whether or not Fossett filed an official flight plan.

Allen says 13 aircraft are involved in the search at this time, adding that a number of agencies have come together to locate the missing pilot.

They they include the Nevada Civil Air Patrol, the Nevada National Guard, the Nevada Air Guard, Fallon Naval Air Center, the California Highway Patrol and the Mono County, California Sheriff's Office.

But so far they have turned up no sign of the missing pilot. They say the search will continue.

Fossett grew up in Garden Grove, California. He is a 1966 graduate of Stanford University. He received his MBA from The Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri in 1968.

Fossett is a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and The Explorers Club.