Steve Fossett
Steve Fossett was an American explorer, adventurer, and businessman born on April 22, 1944, in Jackson, whose pursuits spanned ballooning, sailing, aviation, mountaineering, and automobile racing.
He attended Garden Grove High School before going on to study at Stanford University, the National University of San Marcos, and the Olin Business School. Alongside his adventuring career, Fossett worked as a stockbroker and financier, maintaining a professional life in business while pursuing records and challenges across multiple disciplines. His range of activities was unusually broad, taking in not just the skies but also the open ocean and high mountain terrain.
Among the honors Fossett received were the FAI Gold Air Medal, the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award, and induction into the National Aviation Hall of Fame. He was also named a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, a recognition that reflected his work as an explorer operating across different environments and modes of travel. These awards came from organizations spanning aviation, geography, and scouting, pointing to how widely his activities ranged during his lifetime.
Fossett died on September 3, 2007, in the Sierra Nevada. His life's work cut across ballooning, piloting aircraft, sailing, mountaineering, and racing automobiles, and it's that sustained commitment to exploration across so many different fields that defines how he spent his years.
Quotes by Steve Fossett
I do have some books, but in all the distance flights I’ve made I’ve never opened the books. I’ve been too busy.
Flying solo, you have a fair workload. I’m not only flying the balloon but doing the navigation, communications, repairing the burners, taking care of the equipment.
People often assume I assume I am a thrill seeker, but I am not. I do not enjoy roller coasters, and you won't find me bungee-jumping. ... It is a disadvantage that my pursuits are inherently dangerous. A large part of my effort is to reduce risk.
Mountain climbing was my original sport ... and I've never tired from the satisfaction of getting to the top of a mountain.
Flying solo, you have a fair workload. I'm not only flying the balloon but doing the navigation, communications, repairing the burners, taking care of the equipment.
A hot air balloon requires a great deal of fuel to keep it aloft, so that you can't fly it even for one day. A gas balloon, which usually uses helium, has the problem that the helium cools at night when the sun is not on it, and you have to throw ballast overboard to keep it from going to the surface.
I do have some books, but in all the distance flights I've made I've never opened the books. I've been too busy.
I pick projects according to how fascinating they are to me, and it has resulted in a broad reach. My records are actually in five different sports: balloons, airplanes, airships, gliders, and sailboats.
I was never comfortable with the risk of climbing in the Himalayas, or the amount of time in idleness that is involved in the Everest expedition.