At press time a search-and-rescue effort was still under way for world aviation record holder Steve Fossett, who was reported missing September 3 after taking off from the Flying M Ranch near Smith Valley, Nev., in an American Champion Super Decathlon. The Civil Air Patrol had not found any signs of the aviator in a search area covering hundreds of square miles of rugged terrain. Fossett made the first solo nonstop, non-refueled global circumnavigation flight in the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer, and in 2002 he was the first person to fly solo around the world in a balloon.