Steve Fossett may be alive, investigator claims | Hacker News Reader

Steve Fossett may be alive, investigator claims

theregister.co.uk

11 pointsbaha_man15 comments

Title is incomplete... How about,

   Insurance company investigator blows enough smoke to defer paying $50m payout.

I particularly like the part where the air search guy asserts that find 6 previously unfound planes means they are "pretty good at what we do."

Indeed. From the article:

Lieutenant Colonel Cynthia Ryan of the US Civil Air Patrol, who was involved in the operation from the start, said: "I've been doing this search and rescue for 14 years. Fossett should have been found. It's not like we didn't have our eyes open. We found six other planes while we were looking for him. We're pretty good at what we do."

I like the clever citation of the fact that six (!) previous crashes have been missed by S&R personnel to argue that S&R efforts are robust and free of errors. Now that's some prime-time quality spin. This woman needs to get out of her CAP job and into politics where her skills can be properly appreciated.

From what I understand from reading the articles a few months back, they were able to find downed airplanes from a long time ago where technology weren't capable or where manpower weren't expandable. So, yes, the fact that their team was able to scour the vast areas of Nevada and recover multiple planes should be indicative at least in a bit of how they really did try to find Fosset.

Some other interesting details surrounding this: http://gawker.com/5029726/international-adventurer-may-have-...

PS: Being in CAP is equivalent of getting a political job where worthless skills are appreciated.

Interesting link, although the words 'News of the World' are a bit of a red flag. Also, the 'evidence' they mention could just as well be taken as support for suicide rather than a faked death.

"We found six other planes while we were looking for him"

Seriously? Maybe people should fake their deaths more often, apparently it really helps them out :)

'Kim Toulouse, a spokesman for the Nevada Department of Wildlife, described the empty valleys being scoured for the millionaire adventurer as an aviation "graveyard".

"We're finding them left and right," he said. "The technology we have today is allowing us to find this stuff." These wrecks are years, sometimes decades old.'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6987855.stm

"Steve has not accessed any of his assets since his disappearance."

Interesting choice of words.

Well, if you saw bank or credit card activity that would be a big red flag that something fishy is going on.

Or someone stole the dead guy's wallet and decided to try the credit card.

Correct, but it's phrased as if he's alive. Which helps make it sound more fishy than it really is (not fishy at all).

And, as we all know from TV and movies, any self respecting super-rich person stashes some of their cash in secret overseas bank accounts.

I bet he's hiding out with Elvis in Mexico eating burgers and enjoying cheap tequila.

Insurance companies will try to find any reason not to pay out...

Maybe Google can find him, they're good at finding things. If not, try that new search engine, Cuil.

Don't know why you're being downmodded. Personally, I think that's hilarious.

Payouts are considered losses by insurance companies and $50M is a lot of money. It's a legitimate question and probably standard policy to ask if a claim is a scam.

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