Washington - Steve Fossett, a US adventurer known for flying around the planet in a hot air balloon and airplane, was missing after taking off from a private airfield in Nevada, US media reported Tuesday. US authorities launched a search after Fossett did not return from a flight in a small plane late Monday, the Record Courier, a local newspaper in Nevada, reported.
Fossett, 63, took off flying a single engine Citabria Super Decathlon heading south, Major Cynthia Ryan, a spokeswoman for the Civil Air Patrol Nevada Wing Mission, said, according to the newspaper.
Fossett made the first non-stop flight around the world during a 67-hour journey in 2005 and made a solo flight around the globe in a balloon in 2002. Fossett holds several world records.
