Two new tips in Fossett search

Douglas County searchers are responding to Sunrise Pass to conduct a search

for signs of famed aviator Steve Fossett.

Sheriff's Search & Rescue team was called out at 1:55 p.m. after a tip

received earlier was confirmed. Lyon County spokesman Jeff Page said the

initial tip that an airplane flew into an area canyon and didn't fly out was

overheard in a bar. Confirmation of the tip came a few hours ago.

A second tip came from a camper near Sonora Pass south of Coleville, Calif., who said she heard a plane fly over and then the sound of a crash.

Page said California law enforcement officers were talking to the woman to

get a better location. Meanwhile winds over Sonora Pass are preventing light

aircraft from taking a better look.

Fossett has been missing since Labor Day morning when he took off in a

borrowed Citabria Super Decathlon from the Flying M Ranch south of

Wellington. Dozens of tips a day are being followed. The Sunrise Pass area

of the Pine Nut Mountains between Douglas and Lyon counties is a common spot

for searches, said Page. Off-roaders and hikers are typically the target for

those searches.

"We know it pretty well," he said. "Douglas County goes in one side, we go

in the other and we meet in the middle."