Steve Fossett, one of the greatest adventurers of modern times and the first person to achieve a solo balloon flight around the Earth, was missing last night after his aircraft disappeared.

Fossett, who teamed up with Sir Richard Branson to achieve several world records, was last seen taking off solo in an aerobatic aircraft from western Nevada, the most mountainous state in the US, shortly after 9am local time on Monday.

He took off from a private ranch in a single-engine Citabria Super Decathlon with four full tanks of fuel, enough for four or five hours’ flying time. He was not wearing a parachute.

Despite growing fears for his former ballooning companion, Sir Richard remained optimistic last night. He said: “Steve is a tough old boot. I suspect he is waiting by his plane right now for someone to pick him up.”

As he spoke, 13 aircraft and several helicopters were in the air above the ridges and plains of southern Nevada, led by the state’s Civil Air Patrol, searching for Fossett’s blue and white aircraft with orange stripes. Ground units from police highway patrols had also joined the hunt.

The plane was equipped with a locator system that can be picked up by satellite. A spokesman for the rescue effort said: “As far as we know it is still a rescue mission.”

Aircraft equipped with infrared cameras were yesterday dividing up southern Nevada in 100 square mile grids.

Fossett was in Nevada preparing for an attempt on the land speed record at Bonneville Flats. Trooper Chuck Allen said Fossett had taken off from a private airstrip on the Flying M Ranch, which is owned by the hotel tycoon Barron Hilton. It is 70 miles southeast of the city of Reno in the southern end of the Smith Valley.

Ian Gregor, of the Federal Aviation Administration, said: “The Civil Air Patrol is looking for him. One problem is he doesn’t appear to have filed a flight plan.”

Sir Richard said that Fossett has a special watch which he could use to give out a signal showing his location, but he had not done so.

The search was being led by the Air Force’s Rescue Coordination Centre in Virginia, 2,600 miles (4,185km) from Nevada, Mr Gregor said. “They are working on some leads, but they don’t know where he is right now.”

Fossett, 63, has set 115 records in five different sports. He made the first solo, nonstop, nonrefuelled circumnavigation of the world in 67 hours in the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer in 2005, after setting the first solo balloon circumnavigation in 2002. Sir Richard sponsored the flight and was one of the first to greet him when he landed in Kansas.

Fossett also holds records for the first solo balloon crossings of the continents of Asia, Africa, Europe and South America and the first ocean crossings of the South Atlantic, South Pacific and Indian Oceans.

In February 2006 Fossett set the absolute world record for “distance without landing” of 25,766 miles after a flight that lasted 76 hours 43 minutes. He and a co-pilot also claim to have set a world glider height record of 50,671ft (15,447m) during a flight last month over the Andes.

Sir Richard said: “The ranch he took off from covers a huge area and Steve has had far tougher challenges to overcome in the past. Based on his track record, I feel confident we’ll get some good news soon.”

Later, he told BBC News 24: “Steve has been through some near misses and he has always come back . . . Everyone is concerned, but our hope is that he will turn up in the morning alive and well somewhere in America.” He described Fossett as “a remarkable individual”, calm and with a strong sense of humour. He added: “There is nobody on earth like him.”

British adventurer Colin Prescot told Sky News that Fossett was not an “adrenaline junkie”. He said that Fossett was “very intelligent”, adding: “Obviously adventurers get into more scrapes than most people.”

Fossett made his fortune in the American financial services industry. He is a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and the Explorers Club.

Fossett first became known to people in Britain in 1998, when he, Sir Richard and Per Lindstrand, a Swede, tried to become one of half a dozen rival teams to try to circle the globe in a balloon. It ended in failure on Christmas Day when the craft crashed near Hawaii.

After graduation he was a computer programmer, then a taxi driver before becoming a stockbroker for Merrill Lynch. By 33 he was a millionaire: he subsequently lost and regained his fortune twice before he retired at 46.

“Some guys my age do triathlons,” he said last year. “I do other stuff.”

World firsts

— In March 2005, Fossett became the first pilot to make a nonstop, solo flight around the world. He then made the longest nonstop flight in history – 25,766 miles

— Fossett set records for the first balloon crossings of Asia, Africa, Europe, South America, the South Atlantic, South Pacific and Indian Ocean

— In 2002 he became the first hot-air balloonist to fly nonstop around the world

Source: www.stevefossett.com ; www.guinnessworldrecords.com; Times archives

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