Turbulence Blamed for Fossett Crash

Calif. man fields thanks from Branson before fleeing spotlight

(NEWSER) - The widow of adventurer Steve Fossett, whose wrecked plane was found this week in the Sierra Nevada mountains, reached out personally yesterday to the hiker who played the key role in the discovery, the LA Times reports. Peggy Fossett thanked outdoorsman and sporting-goods salesman Preston Morrow for the chance to “bring to closure a very painful chapter in my life.” More»

Snow obscures crash site, could pose danger to investigators

(NEWSER) - The snowstorm that stopped investigators' search for aviator Steve Fossett this week will likely keep such efforts suspended until spring, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. A 2-foot buildup of snow has covered any evidence on the ground, and could pose hazards for search teams. Federal officials had removed the wreckage of Fossett's plane before the storm started. More»

(NEWSER) - Steve Fossett took his last, fatal flight into the Sierra Nevada mountains last year because he unconsciously wanted to die, a friend of his said yesterday. Will Hasley, who helped Fossett write a memoir 2 years ago, believes the aviation pioneer was guilt-ridden over marital and financial problems before the crash. "He believed it was time for him to go," Hasley told the Daily Mail. More»

'They just stopped flying'

(USER SUBMITTED) - The National Transportation Safety Board yesterday released photos from the site of the crash that killed former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens and four others, as investigators spoke with two of the four survivors. According to the chair of the NTSB, they did not report hearing weird noises, nor did they feel the plane tilt backward or forward, notes the Anchorage Daily News . "They were flying along, and then they just stopped flying." More»

(NEWSER) - The National Transportation Board's view of the events that caused last weekend's crash over the Hudson River doesn't jibe with the FAA's, the Wall Street Journal reports. The NTSB chronology released yesterday suggests that errors from air traffic controllers—one of whom was one the phone to his girlfriend at the time of the crash—are partly to blame, while the FAA insists it has no reason to believe controller missteps played a role. More»