Adventurer Steve Fossett declared dead by Chicago court
Saturday, 16 Feb 2008 09:53
Steve Fossett had broken over 100 world records
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A Chicago court has declared the millionaire businessman and adventurer Steve Fossett legally dead.
Mr Fossett has been missing for five months, since the aeroplane he was flying disappeared over the Nevada desert.
His wife, Peggy Fossett, had asked the Cook County Circuit Court to make the declaration in November.
Her petition for a finding into Mr Fossett's death said investigators had concluded that the aeroplane had been destroyed in a fatal accident.
"I believe the evidence is more than sufficient," the Chicago Tribune quotes Judge Jeffery Malak as saying.
There has been no trace of the millionaire businessman since he took off from Yerington, Nevada on September 3rd 2007.
The flight had been expected to take three hours and no flight plan was recorded.
In the days following Mr Fossett's disappearance, as many as 45 planes were just to search Nevada and California for the downed plane.
He had apparently taken his final flight to look for locations that could be used for an attempt to break the land speed record.
Mr Fossett had a reputation as an adventurer and had accumulated over 100 world records, including in March 2005, becoming the first person to fly a plane solo, non-stop around the globe.