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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Search for Fossett scaled back

Brendan Riley Associated Press

MINDEN, Nev. – The search for missing millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett in the rugged and remote high Nevada desert was cut back Monday.

The Civil Air Patrol, which had 20 planes and 60 searchers aloft over the weekend, suspended further flights and left two planes and a small team on standby at the airport here.

“We don’t like to do that. It’s against our nature to walk away from a search,” said Maj. Cynthia Ryan of the Nevada CAP. “But at some point you have diminishing returns.”

Ryan said volunteer CAP pilots in up to 28 planes made 245 flights searching for Fossett, 63, who disappeared Labor Day while flying his plane. The search has covered an area twice the size of New Jersey.

The National Guard kept five helicopters on search duty, and many private aircraft continue to operate out of hotel mogul Barron Hilton’s 1-million-acre Flying M Ranch, where Fossett had been staying.

Search and rescue crews on the ground also continued their efforts as the search for Fossett entered its third week.

Maj. Ed Locke of the Nevada Air National Guard said the guard’s helicopters will continue flying and will be able to hover closer to the ground than the CAP planes. He said tips have dropped off.

Lyon County Sheriff Allen Veil, whose county includes Hilton’s ranch, said he’s observed the private search and has seen “a sense of optimism that Mr. Fossett is still out there alive, and they’re set on finding him.”

But the sheriff also said it’s possible that the organized search for Fossett might turn up nothing and some hiker or hunter eventually will come across the wreckage of Fossett’s single-engine plane.