September 15  2007
Just 100Kms north of the the Flying M Ranch - where one of the largest searches in US aviation history for missing aviator Steve Fossett has been going on for almost two weeks without a result - three pilots attending the Reno air races have lost their lives in flying accidents

In the first fatal crash at the races since 2002 a bipe had an engine problem shortly after lift-off with the resultant forced-landing turning out to be unsuccessful

 
The next accident involved a L-39 Albatross - named "Dino Juice" - that crashed while competing in the second heat of the jet-class competition - the third was a small Cassutt III M 100hp racer named "Mariah" that clipped the back of another racer during a turn around a race pylon

Two judges on the ground suffered minor injuries from flying debris - the pilot of the other machine involved sustained non-life threatening injuries

September 7  2007
The world's media is monitoring efforts to locate adventurer Steve Fossett who was reported missing by family after failing to return from a flight in Nevada a few days ago

Fossett had departed a private airstrip in a single-engine 2-seat Bellanca Super Decathlon intending to inspect suitable sites for a land speed record attempt

 
The Civil Air Patrol currently has 10 aircraft looking for Steve

From media reports ..."searchers were briefly encouraged when one aerial team spotted a downed aircraft it believed was Fossett's but a helicopter crew determined the wreckage was from one of dozens of old downed planes that litter the region's canyons"