Chicagoist: Chicago Adventurer Still Missing

guest

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 01:29:42 -0600

11: Grow some balls. Learn to spell F-U-C-K.

guest

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 17:59:05 -0600

8-10: Go f__k yourselves.

guest

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 17:01:42 -0600

How is flying around the world in a balloon or climbing Everest any less fulfilling than 90 percent of the stupid stuff Chicagoistas do to find fulfillment? Is he somehow empty inside simply because he doesn't sit around listening to Lollapalooza bands and drinking independent beers? I guess it only goes to show how closed-minded Chicago people are, thinking that anyone who goes out and does something is living a meaningless life. I guess the only meaning is in Wicker Park bars on a Saturday night.

guest

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 16:39:16 -0600

hey ferdy- are you aware of the big macy's protest this sunday at 111 state? i am definitely thinking about going! CURSE YOU MACYS

Spook

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 15:31:57 -0600

Ferdy, perhaps his time would've been better spent protesing Macy's decission to purchase Fields or he could have coordinated with the "Free Fields leadership committee" and flown a group of protestors to the Island that Fields is now retired too to Protest him/Fields for selling his store to Macy's?

guest

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 11:32:17 -0600

So this dumbass decides to pull this stupid feat (really, is there a purpose?) and now we have to waste tax dollars looking for him? Fantastic.

Ferdy

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 11:27:03 -0600

Imagine what? What lurid scenario do you have in mind? The kind of thrill-seeking and record-mongering Steve Fawcett has pursued with his millions is emblematic of all the people with more money than sense. The idiots with laughable climbing experience who pay guides to take them up Mt. Everest fall into this category. Taking their money to show they can do something others can't. Tell me flying solo in a balloon around the world adds anything but a line in the Guinness Book and a couple of meaningless trophies to your life. The fact that he kept pursuing records after this feat was accomplished just shows me his ego is both oversized and puny.

guest

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 11:07:14 -0600

Thank God "Ferdy" was the one throwing out the "i can't shake the feeling that Fosset killed himself because thrill-seeking is an empty, soul-killing pastime." Not that you're wrong, or right, Ferdy, but imagine if Alicia had written that in a post!

Ferdy

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 10:55:14 -0600

Interesting. Thanks for the info. Still, I couldn't shake that feeling. I wonder if he will be found. The search looks daunting.

chicagoisttodd

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 10:37:08 -0600

The ELT not being detected is not all that unusual actually. Chicagoist talked to MidwaySix(capblog.typepad.com), a local Civil Air Patrol Member about effectiveness of ELTs. MidwaySix said "The Electronic Locator Transmitter (ELT) activation rates vary from any where between as low as 25% to as high as 83% depending on the model of transmitter." Additionally, he commented that "Civil Air Patrol aircraft are equipped to detect the signal from very long distances. Aircraft ELTs can be detected by satellites in orbit. (SARSAT) But that signal can only travel across line-of-sight. So rugged terrain, like a canyon or a ravine, can block the signal. If the antenna gets snapped off during a crash, the signal would be severely degraded."

Ferdy

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 10:18:03 -0600

He has been based in Chicago for many years. The first thing I thought when I heard this news was that he had committed suicide. The emergency beacon was not activated, which it should have been automatically if he had crashed. I could only think that he disabled it before takeoff so he wouldn't be found. Perhaps suicide is a weird thought about this egomaniac, but I honestly wonder if the emptiness of the thrills he kept seeking finally caught up with him.

guest

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 10:05:29 -0600

Isn't he from St. Louis?