The crash wreckage discovered in California's Sierra Nevada Mountains is in fact that of lost adventurer Steve Fossett's plane, though no human remains have been found, authorities said Thursday.
Madera County Sheriff John Anderson told reporters that searchers "found enough wreckage to determine that it was in fact the aircraft" Fossett was flying solo when he disappeared last September.
Anderson said that it appears that Fossett plowed head-on into a mountainside.
"The crash looked to be so severe that I doubt if someone would have walked away from it," said Anderson during a Thursday news conference. The engine was lying about 300 feet from the wings and the fuselage, which disintegrated on impact.
Crews confirmed about 11 p.m. Wednesday that the tail number matched the one on Fossett's single-engine Bellanca, according to Anderson.
The news came after federal transportation officials from the NTSB headed to California Thursday morning to retrieve the plane debris found in a mountainous, wooded area and join the investigation.
The discovery of the decimated fixed-wing plane came days after a local hiker stumbled upon some of Fossett's personal effects — including his pilot's license and FAA cards.
Anderson said the plane was found about a quarter-mile from where the items turned up, and authorities had not yet determined whether the sweatshirt that was with the documents belonged to 63-year-old Fossett.
They'll be lucky to find Fossett. It's unlikely he walked away from the crash, and with the various wild critters in the area, what's left of Fossett could be scattered over a wide area.
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