Somewhere in the Great Blue Yonder

In 1937 Amelia Earhart became lost to the sky. She disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean during an attempt to make a circumnavigational flight. To this day her disappearance remains a mystery. And now seventy years later the search has begun for Steve Fossett.

On September 3, 2007, Fossett’s single-engine plane vanished Monday as he was scouting dry lake beds for an attempt to set a world land speed record. Fossett's emergency locator radio beacon, which is designed to be automatically activated in the event of a crash, has failed to send out a signal. Fossett's plane had enough fuel to last him four to five hours, the search began six hours later.

Fossett didn't make a flight plan nor was he required to do so. Not required? I know airplanes are supposed to be the safest means of transportation, but should private flight patterns really go unrequired?

So what happened? His beacon didn't go off- perhaps it malfunctioned or he didn't crash. Could for some strange reason he be on the run? Maybe he had to make an emergecy landing and is stranded with no way to call for help. Perhaps he got pulled into the Bermuda triangle- but we can rule that theory out for obvious reasons...it's in the Atlantic. Whatever the reason is we can only hope that he hasn't become lost somewhere in the great blue yonder.