** FILE ** American adventurer Steve Fossett arrives at Kent International Airport, Manston, Kent, England. in this Feb. 11, 2006, photo. Fossett's wife has praised the work of government and private searchers for her husband's downed plane, though officials have expressed concern about non-professionals combing the remote area. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, file)
The National Transportation Safety Board has confirmed search and rescue personnel checking out a wreckage near Mammoth Lakes in Madera County, Calif., found the wreckage of Steve Fossett's plane he was flying at the time he disappeared Sept. 3, 2007.
Madera County Sheriff John P. Anderson conducted a 7 a.m. press conference announcing the confirmation.
He said searchers spotted Wednesday what they thought was plane wreckage on the ground, near where Fossett's personal items were found.
A search team spent the night in the mountains, and using GPS coordinates from the aircraft did locate and confirm it to be the one Steve Fossett was flying.
"It has been found," Anderson said referring to Fossett's plane.
"Every airplane is issued an 'N' number used as its call sign. It had the one Steve Fossett's plane had.
"There are no signs of human remains."
Anderson said he has seen photographs of the scene and the crash looked so severe he doubts someone could walk away from it. There was no body inside the plane and there are no human remains at the crash site.
The elevation of the area is about 9,700 feet. Jeff Page from Lyon County is one of the search managers for the incident, and noted they flew the grid 19 times during active searches.
Anderson said it appeared the plane crashed head-on into the mountain and disintegrated. The engine was 300 feet away from the fuselage and wings.
Anderson said about 50 searchers including five canine teams are on the ground this morning going to the site, including teams from Washoe County.
The announcements were made after a hiker came across Steve Fossett's ID Monday. Anderson said two thing to happen now are, the sheriff and coroner to do their job and try to locate Fossett's remains.
The area is about 120 miles from Yerington, where Fossett took off from a private air strip.