(AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, file)
John Milburn, an AP reporter based in Topeka, Kan., has covered some of the previous adventures of Steve Fossett -- the millionaire aviator who is the subject of a massive search after he took to the air in Nevada and disappeared. Here are some of Milburn's reflections on what Fossett is like.
Meeting Steve Fossett in 2005, for an aviation nut, was kind of like stepping back into the golden age of flying. Here was a modern day Howard Hughes, Charles Lindbergh and Chuck Yeager rolled into one.
And I must say Fossett didn't disappoint. He had that swagger of a man who knew that he had the skills -- and oodles of money -- to do what other people only dream of someday doing. And he wore this pair of signature brown boots, the kind you would expect to see on someone about to milk the cows or step into a mountain stream looking for trout.
That flight was marked by uncertainty over the Pacific when his crew learned they lost a good deal of fuel during the first leg over North America. Steve always sounded confident that things would work out, but there also was a hint in his voice that he had fallen short again and this would just be one more failure.
When he finally touched down, he was treated like a rock star with 40,000 adoring fans. He played to the crowd, with a little help from Sir Richard Branson. Both were like big kids who knew they were getting to do what the other kids in the neighborhood couldn't.
-- John Milburn
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