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Steve Fossett
Steve Fossett, American adventurer wealthy, born on 22 April 1944 in Jackson (Tennessee). Disappeared on 3 September 2007 in the Nevada desert, it is officially declared dead on 15 February 2008 by the court of succession Chicago without ever having been found.
Fossett made his fortune in financial services and became famous through his five trips around the world without stopping: solo in a balloon, boat and fly solo. Fossett has set 116 records in five disciplines, of which 60 are still valid.
Biography
Fossett grew up in Garden Grove, California. In 1966 he graduated from Stanford, and in 1968 he received his MBA from the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis (Missouri), where he is a member of the supervisory board. Fossett became a commodities trader on the Chicago market, creating his own firm, Marathon Securities, which became a great success.
List of exploits
In 1985, he made a voyage to the Channel swim in 22 hours.
On 21 February 1995, he crossed the Pacific Ocean in a balloon.
On 10 October 2001, he established a record of crossing the Atlantic in 4 days and 17 hours, 28 minutes and 6 seconds aboard the maxi - catamaran Play Station. He then won the same year the record round of the Isle of Wight and in 2002, the record round of the British Isles with the same boat.
On July 2, 2002, Australia makes it the first circumnavigation in a balloon solo non-stop after a journey of fourteen days. Its meteorologists Luc Trullemans and David Dehenauw the guide.
On 27 October 2004 he established the record speed airship to 111.8 km / h.
In 2005, as skipper on board Cheyenne, he established the world record for circumnavigation under sail and the fastest team.
On 3 March 2005, he managed the first round the world solo flight without refueling stop or aboard the aircraft experimental Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer in sixty-seven hours and one minute. He made his circumnavigation from west to east to take advantage of prevailing winds.
On 11 February 2006, a new round of the world allows it to establish the record for the longest nonstop flight by plane, with 42 450 km traveled. From Florida aboard his plane GlobalFlyer, he landed at Bournemouth Airport after a journey from West to East and two Atlantic crossings.
On 29 August 2006, he beat the record altitude glider with Einar Enevoldson (on a DG 505/22). This is the first stratospheric flight in history glider. The feat took place in the Andes, for a flight lasting 4h30. They reached an altitude of 15 447 meters and a temperature of -57 ° C.
He also to his ascent of the highest summits of the world, with the exception of Everest (two attempts), and a long race sled dogs in the North. He also participated twice in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
In total, Steve Fossett holds the world record for the number of world records held, with a total of 62, many of whose records distance traveled and altitude glider.
Disappearance
The adventurer Steve Fossett went missing on Monday, 3 September 2007, announcement by officials of the American civil aviation. The pilot, aged 63, was last seen taking off from the runway of a private ranch in Nevada at the controls of his single-engine Citabria Super Decathlon. At first, it was announced that he was on a reconnaissance flight to identify areas of training to beat the speed record aboard a vehicle. Finally, it seems he was flying this time only for his pleasure.
Steve Fossett, left for three hours, has not filed a flight plan and the distress beacon of the aircraft has not been triggered. The search area extends as well over a wide area, 25 900 km2 (equivalent to the size of Sicily), which is akin to "finding a needle in a haystack". The research facilities have been drastically reduced from 18 September 2007 - research, without being formally arrested, had yielded no result after one month On October 2, 2007, the Civil Air Patrol officially continued research. On 27 November 2007, after three months of fruitless searches, his wife Peggy asked the court to recognize the death of her husband.
On 15 February 2008, acceding to the request of his wife, a Chicago judge declares Steve Fossett legally dead at the end of the period of 5 months following the declaration of his disappearance. The estate may thus take place.
According to the Canadian newspaper National Post, 29 July 2008, the insurance company Lloyds said Steve Fosset has certainly held his disappearance to allow his family to collect his life insurance a few million dollars. "Nothing proves that Steve Fosset died" reportedly told an investigator from the insurance company to investigate the disappearance.
Read also Antoine de Saint-Exupery
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