Ground crews comb canyon in Fossett search

A Blackhawk helicopter and several ground crews were dispatched Wednesday afternoon to a location in the Pinenut Mountains of western Nevada where two witnesses reported seeing a plane like adventurer Steve Fossett's fly into a canyon on Labor Day but not fly out. Search planes had covered the area several times, but the second sighting was reported to authorities Wednesday, so ground crews went in for a closer look, said Jeff Page, Lyon County's emergency manager. Searchers planned to return Thursday morning. To the south, just across the California line, search planes flew over an area northeast of Yosemite National Park after a woman reported Wednesday that she had camped there over Labor Day and had heard a noise that sounded like an airplane, followed by what sounded like an explosion, Page said. A C-130 found nothing during a flyover Wednesday. California law officers planned to interview the woman Thursday. More than a dozen aircraft scanned the terrain again Wednesday for any sign of Fossett, who took off Sept. 3 from a private airstrip about 80 miles southeast of Reno. "We will continue until all credible leads are followed up. We don't know when that will be," Civil Air Patrol Maj. Ed Locke said. The small air force combing the wilderness has spotted a half-dozen uncharted crash sites that might bring some solace to the families of fliers who disappeared decades ago.