http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20588788/ The man is really pretty much a genius, an enormous figure in both avation and ocean sail racing. Not looking good.
The man has been highly wreckless and irresponsible in the past. hopefully he's safe but its not looking good...
I dont know what axes you two might have to grind with the guy but ive met him on a couple of occasions and know people who have worked with him in various projects and in my experience he was always extremely polite and humble, and a genuine hero in the international yachting community as well as in aviation circles. He did the things he did for the right reasons, because they hadnt been done before, and because he could, and even when he failed he was always moving forward. IMHO he's one of the good guys.
He may be a great guy and I hope he's ok. That said, I'm totally against aviation as a hobby or sport because it often ends up like this.
I had this argument back in 2002 when he went around the world: Please tell me what "right reason" there is for spending millions advancing balloon technology? Is the world going to suddenly revert 200 years in aviation because of some new technology that allowed this guy to circle the globe?
Whose "millions" were spent? Here in the U. S. America, we get to spend our own money on pretty much whatever we want.
sad somebody has gone missing, but that sort of thing happens when you allow your ego to guide you into extremely dangerous aviation territory.
man you guys are brutal. if you had craptons of money what would you do about it? lock yourself in a mansion and white knuckle the rest of your days hoping no one came and took it away from you? personally I dont give a crap about Fossett the aviator, I'm a sailor, and Steve Fossett holds 21 world records in the sport of sailing. He's a ********ing hero in that world, and sailors, anyway, are very upset about this. The rest of you can go die in a fire for the conscern you show.
I'm sorry you are angry and moreso that he's still missing, but I feel his aviation adventures were far too dangerous and I really don't want them encouraged. Sailing, while it has its dangers, is a reasonable activity.
Hes a Kobayashi level celebrity. I dont like these guys who set off on their perilous stunts (current situation doesnt qualify) without adequate prearranged rescue and expect any freighter within 500 miles to rush to their rescue.
man, remind me not to invite any of you guys on anything so much as a camping trip, you'll never actually go into the woods for fear of getting lost.
First, there is nothing to suggest he was doing anything inherently dangerous here. He was going out for a three hour VFR flight. Second, I will let the sailors chime in here but I think some of the around the world sailing stunts are probably far more dangerous than his balloon or plane flights.
Im not really, thanks for the thought though. Chris M is right, his sailing adventures, particularly the no-rules round the world race in 2000 where he built probably the most extreme sailboat ever to sail any long distance at all, is far far more dangerous than anything he ever did in an airplane or balloon. But so what? He knew the risks, he took the chances, and he was criticized much like you all are criticizing him now, yet he's helped advance the sport of sailing and science of sailboat design enormously, same (I presume though i dont know) with airplane design.
Count me amongst those who appreciate what he's done and hope to see him found soon. As I was reading the story I couldn't help but think of all the tiny, stupid **** people on Google Earth have found. Obviously Google Earth is based on images that are not current, but if it was possible to rescan the area they're looking for him in in a reasonable amount of time, I would bet dollars to donuts that he or his plane would be located within hours of the information being provided.
Obviously, you can take ridiculous risks in any vehicle, but I object to glorifying aviation stunts because I believe that activity should be (almost exclusively) limited to commercial and military purposes.
Are you talking about private aviation? I don't have statistics but there are tens of thousands of private flights every day with very few incidents. I wouldn't call that a dangerous recreational activity.
an excellent sailor, yes, and is to be commended on his accomplishments. but, in this situation, he chose to fly into winds which, on their bad days, are known to be troublesome.
You do realize that modern aviation is where it is today largely because of private citizens engaged in "aviation stunts"?