Concern grows in search for Fossett

Pilots brushed off a series of false sightings and scoured Nevada’s high desert as the huge aerial search for aviator Steve Fossett grew more urgent nearly a week after his disappearance.

Maj. Cynthia Ryan of the Nevada Civil Air Patrol said the search could continue for weeks. But concerns about the 63-year-old’s ability to survive in the harsh landscape were growing, and there were no solid clues about where his plane might have gone down.

The search included 45 airplanes and helicopters -- 25 under the jurisdiction of the Civil Air Patrol, and the rest flown by private pilots operating from a ranch owned by hotel mogul William Barron Hilton, about 80 miles southeast of Reno. Fossett left Hilton’s airstrip Monday for a three-hour flight, possibly carrying a single bottle of water.