Steve Fossett Update: Downdrafts Blamed for Crash

Text by Laura Buckley

The crash that killed famed aviator Steve Fossett was most likely caused by downdrafts that the
single engine plane couldn’t climb out of, according to federal safety
officials.

In its report released last Thursday, the National Transportation
Safety Board said the downdrafts were likely at least 400 feet-per-minute,
while Fossett’s Bellanca Super Decathlon climb capability was only about 300 feet-per-minute.  Wind gusts of 25 to 30 knots (about 29 to 35 miles-per-hour) may have occurred.

ADVENTURE writer James Vlahos backed the downdraft theory in “The Vanishing”  (December/January 2008), where he compared downdrafts to gushing river water hitting a
rock. “On the front side of the rock
water shoots upward. But on the back it dives into a dangerous hole. Air
currents work in a similar fashion. When gusting winds hit a mountainside, they
careen upward. That’s how glider pilots can soar for hours on the windward
sides of ridges. On the leeward sides, however, the air shoots powerfully down.”

Downdrafts don’t always cause crashes, however, and aviators are
taught to monitor wind speeds and approach mountain ranges at a 45-degree angle
in order to lead the plane out of harm’s way. People close to Fossett didn’t want to believe that an experienced
plane, balloon, and sailplane pilot—the first person to fly around the world
alone and nonstop by both hot-air balloon and plane—would crash this way.   

But unexpected downdrafts can happen to anyone and the combination of weather conditions, high density altitude, and mountainous terrain seems to have proven deadly
to Fossett.