Family want Fossett declared dead

[Hagar]

Seems a tad hasty. IMHO http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7115468.stm

The wife of American adventurer Steve Fossett has filed a court petition to get him declared legally dead.

Mr Fossett has been missing for three months since his single-engine plane disappeared over the Nevada desert.

In a written statement Peggy Fossett said that it was a difficult day for her family, but that they now "must accept that Steve did not survive".

There has been no trace of the 63-year-old aviator since he took off from Yerington, NV, on 3 September.

The flight had been expected to last about three hours and Mr Fossett was not required to, and did not, file a flight plan.

"As painful as it is for Mrs Fossett, other members of the family and his many friends, it is time to initiate this process," lawyer Michael A LoVallo, who filed the petition in Cook County Circuit Court, was quoted by the Associated Press as saying.

'Vast wealth'

The move is a step towards taking control of Mr Fossett's estate. The court papers said Mr Fossett's "wealth is vast, surpassing eight figures in liquid assets, various entities and real estate".

The petition said there was no chance that he could have survived in the soaring desert temperatures, even if he lived through a crash.

"Fossett did not have any reason to disappear," AP quoted the petition as saying. "Fossett was happy and passionately involved in his pursuit of adventure."

[Craig.]

I'd have to disagree Doug.
Sad fact is, its been far too long to hold out hope. The mans an experienced explorer, and if he had suffered an injury too severe to find his way to a populated location, I dont believe he would have survived those injuries this long.

[Hagar]

OK. Supposing he wanted to do a Reggie Perrin & disappear for a while.

They could at least spend some of that vast wealth in trying to find out what happened to him.

[Craig.]

I certainly wont count that idea out.
I've sometimes thought from his TV apperances and other promotional work that he seemed very uncomfortable with all the publicity. There were several times when he was being embraced by Branson that Steve looked less than ecstatic to there. (okay most people would feel that way)
I think he enjoyed and loved the adventures he participated in, but really wasn't a fan of the spotlight it brought.
Theres further evidence to support the theory, for instance he just happend to not have the locator watch on him. The planes locator beacon never went off. The huge search turns up no evidence what so ever.

[C]

OK. Supposing he wanted to do a Reggie Perrin & disappear for a while.

Quite. As always though, I think these are the key words in the text posted by Doug:

The move is a step towards taking control of Mr Fossett's estate.

Someone wants to play with his money - or at least his lawyers do. Probably couldn't care less about his current position (probably since he disappered, one single place)...

[Dr.bob7]

i think its for the money who knows if hes dead the guy was nuts


and i mean nuts like this ------------------>  

[Ashar]

i think its for the money who knows if hes dead the guy was nuts


and i mean nuts like this ------------------>  

That's very nice

[beaky]

I'd imagine many people will continue to search for the wreck and his remains... but I can't blame his family for saying "enough already" as his (very large) estate sits idle, probably losing money rapidly.

Nothing craven about it, necessarily- if he did take a powder, what would he expect them to do?

As for his status: he's either dead, or he's disappeared himself for some reason. The former seems more likely, unfortunately.

After the first week, I thought of Russell Merrill, the legendary Alaskan aviator who made an emergency landing (low on fuel and deteriorating weather) on a frozen lake south of Barrow, Alaska in 1928, and was stranded there for about 11 days, along with two others. There had been another plane flying with them, but it could not return with fuel or supplies due to the weather.  The other two men started hiking to Barrow after ten days; Merrill tried to wait longer but set off himself after two more days. They all survived: his companions were spotted from the air 50 miles from Barrow about 2 weeks later, and Merrill was found prone in the snow by a trapper about 40 miles from Barrow about two days after that. He nearly died, but he recovered and went right back to work, hauling whatever wherever as long as there was money to be made.

If those three men could survive something like that, I thought, maybe there was hope that a tough, crazy old adventurer like Fossett could wander out of the desert in one piece...

But after 30 days of Fossett being missing, I thought of Merrill again... thought about the time he went missing on a routine flight from Anchorage to the Kenai peninsula about a year after his ordeal in the snow. All that was ever found of him or the plane was a scrap of fabric from the airplane. The fabric seemed to have been cut, leading some to speculate that Merrill had survived a crash or forced landing, and had tried to make something out of the fabric. But he was never seen again. One of the boldest but savviest bush pilots ever had been swallowed up by the wild country.

[MattNW]

The fact that they haven't found him or the wreckage of his airplane means little. The area he disappeared in was vast and inhospitable. While the search was going on for Fossett they found several previously undiscovered wrecks which goes to show how hard it is to find a crashed airplane in that area. Even someone in good condition would have a hard time surviving in that area. Fossett alone and possibly injured would be in serious trouble no matter how good his survival skills were. After all this time if he hasn't walked out himself or been discovered by searchers he is most likely dead.

[ozzy72]

Maybe the family just want closure so they can feel that they can move on....

[expat]

Regardless of what has happened to him, as Rotty says if his businesses sit still with out a head they will start to hemorrhage money and if I was employed by him, I would want someone at the helm. Also it does not matter how long he not with us for what ever reason, people will always have an opinion about what happened to him and who should get his estate. However if he is declared dead, then let Mr Fosset decide who gets what by the way of his will.
In the search they found some 20 other crash sites that had not been previously found, is it so far fetched to think that he crashed and is now most probably one of the other 20 plus that have not yet been found.

However, I do like some of the conspiracy theories. I like this one
Shot down over Area 51

Matt

[a1]

This is suspicious....

[beaky]

This is suspicious....

Yeah, maybe he's sitting in a bar in Mexico with D.B. Cooper laughing at all of us...  :D

[ozzy72]

Maybe there is a super-secret tropical island run by Lord Lucan and Elvis is the hotel chef.....

[Hagar]

Leaving conspiracy theories out of it I still think three months is a tad hasty. A year would be more acceptable. All I know about Mr Fossett is that he is an adventurer who enjoys all sorts of challenges, most of them involving a certain amount of danger. He is aged 63, one year younger than me & married his present wife Peggy in 1968, the same year as I was married. They have no children. He is also a very successful businessman with a vast wealth. (Note that this is quoted from the BBC article & not my description.) I would have thought that any businessman worth his salt would have contingency plans in place for the business to carry on in his absence or in unforseen circumstances like him going missing for a considerable length of time. That being the case I don't see the urgency in declaring him dead unless somebody wants to benefit by taking control of the estate.

Being the cynical old sausage that I am I'm always suspicious where money is concerned, especially in vast amounts. When somebody pops their clogs the relatives, some of whom you never heard of, gather like vultures trying to get their hands on anything worth having. Please don't try to tell me that this is not so as I've seen it happening time after time. Even if the deceased left a legitimate last will & testament somebody invariably contests it & the money ends up going precisely where he/she didn't want it to go. So much for leaving a will.