The mysterious disappearance of Steve Fossett took a twist yesterday when a pilot licence and identity card thought to belong to the missing aviator were found in a rugged part of eastern California.

A hiker discovered the items, including a Federal Aviation Administration ID card bearing Mr Fossett’s name, address, date of birth and certificate number, as well as other miscellaneous IDs and $US1,005 in cash, while hiking in an area called Mammoth Lakes.

The businessman and adventurer disappeared while flying over Nevada in a single engine plane in September, 2007, and, after a search covering 20,000 square miles failed to uncover any information as to his whereabouts, Mr Fossett was declared legally dead on February 15.

The hiker, Preston Morrow, said he found the items tangled in a bush off a trail just west of the town of Mammoth Lakes on Monday. He said he turned the items over to local police on Wednesday after unsuccessful attempts to contact Mr Fossett's family.

Mr Morrow said he also found an XL black fleece jumper in the area. but he had found no trace of Mr Fossett’s missing plane, or any human remains.

Mammoth Lakes Police Department chief Randy Schienle said police were “not certain” the items belong to Mr Fossett, “but it certainly has his name on the ID which are some miscellaneous pilots and/or aircraft licenses".

The FAA said it was trying to verify the authenticity of the items.

The mountainous terrain where the belongings were found is about 90 miles south of the private airfield near Reno, Nevada, where Mr Fossett was last seen taking off on an early morning flight on September 3, 2007.

Police said a command post had been set up at Mammoth Lakes Airport and aerial and ground searches of the area had begun.

Mr Schienle declined to speculate on whether searchers expected to discover wreckage of Fossett's plane, a single-engine Citabria Super Decathlon.

"All I know is we have this ID. It seems to have been outside there for a while, because the ID itself is well weathered as well," he said. "I don't know if we're anywhere near a potential wreckage or not."

Mr Fossett's widow, Peggy, said in a statement that she was: "hopeful that this search will locate the crash site and my husband's remains. I am grateful to all of those involved in this effort.”

Mr Fossett, a good friend of British entrepreneur Richard Branson, was a multi-millionaire who made his fortune dealing stocks in Chicago. He set dozens of world records in sailboats, gliders and hot-air balloons and famously made the first solo non-stop, non-refuelled circumnavigation of the world in 67 hours in the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer. In 2002, he was the first person to fly solo around the world in a balloon.

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