Steve Fossett, millionaire adventurer and World record holder of land, sea and air speed and distance records went missing five months ago, September 3, 2007, on a pleasure flight in a 1980 Bellanca 8KCAB Super Decathlon, N240R from a ranch strip near Yerington, Nevada. His aviation records were set in high tech balloons, gliders and jets, but he perished in an ordinary small tube and fabric construction two place tandem seating airplane.
A judge in Cook County Circuit Court in Illinois declared him legally dead Friday, 15 February 2008, at the request of his widow, Peggy V. Fossett, as a step in resolving the legal status of his estate.