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James Stephen "Steve" Fossett (April 22, 1944 – c. September 3, 2007) was an American businessman and a record-setting aviator, sailor, and adventurer. He was the first person to fly solo nonstop around the world in a balloon. He made his fortune in the financial services industry and was best known for many world records, including five nonstop circumnavigations of the Earth: as a long-distance solo balloonist, as a sailor, and as a solo flight fixed-wing aircraft pilot. A fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and the Explorers Club, Fossett set 116 records in five different sports, 60 of which still stood when he disappeared.〔 〕 On September 3, 2007 Fossett was reported missing after the plane he was flying over the Great Basin Desert in Nevada failed to return. Despite a month of searches by the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) and others, Fossett could not be found and the search by CAP was called off on October 2, 2007. Privately funded and privately directed search efforts continued, but after a request from Fossett's wife he was declared legally dead on February 15, 2008. On September 29, 2008, a hiker found Fossett's identification cards in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California and the crash site was discovered on October 1, 2008, due south from Flying-M Ranch where he took off, and due west (282 degrees) of Mammoth Mountain Ski Area's base operations. His remains were not initially found. On November 3, 2008, tests conducted on two bones recovered about one-half mile (0.8 km) from the site of the crash produced a match to Fossett's DNA. ==Early years== Fossett was born in Jackson, Tennessee and grew up in Garden Grove, California, where he graduated from Garden Grove High School.〔 Fossett's interest in adventure began early. As a Boy Scout, he grew up climbing the mountains of California, beginning with the San Jacinto Mountains. "When I was 12 years old I climbed my first mountain, and I just kept going, taking on more diverse and grander projects." Fossett said that he did not have a natural gift for athletics or team sports, so he focused on activities that required persistence and endurance.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 publisher = Stanford Magazine )〕 His father, an Eagle Scout, encouraged Fossett to pursue these types of adventures and encouraged him to become involved with the Boy Scouts early.〔 He became an active member of Troop 170 in Orange, California. At age 13,〔 Fossett earned the Boy Scouts' highest rank of Eagle Scout. He was a Vigil Honor member of the Order of the Arrow, the Boy Scouts' honor society, where he served as lodge chief.〔 He also worked as a Ranger at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico during the summer of 1961. Fossett said in 2006 that Scouting was the most important activity of his youth.〔 In college at Stanford University, Fossett was already known as an adventurer; his Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity brothers convinced him to swim to Alcatraz and raise a banner that read "Beat Cal" on the wall of the prison, closed two years previously. He made the swim, but was thwarted by a security guard when he arrived.〔 While at Stanford, Fossett was a student body officer and served as the president of a few clubs.〔 In 1966, Fossett graduated from Stanford with a degree in economics. Fossett spent the following summer in Europe climbing mountains and swimming the Dardanelles.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Steve Fossett」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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