(CNN) -- Authorities have found the plane Steve Fossett was flying when he disappeared last year, but they have not found the millionaire adventurer's body, the Madera County, California, sheriff said Thursday.
Fossett's pilot's license and a torn $100 bill were found by a hiker Wednesday.
"They did locate an aircraft which we have now confirmed is the one Steve Fossett was flying when it disappeared last Labor Day," Sheriff John Anderson told reporters at a news conference in Mammoth Lakes.
The plane apparently crashed head-on into the side of a mountain, and the damage was "so severe I doubt someone would've walked away from it," the sheriff said.
Anderson said local authorities would search for Fossett's remains, and the National Transportation Safety Board would try to determine why and how the crash occurred. Watch how searchers located the wreckage »
The sheriff's department said Wednesday that wreckage was spotted during an aerial search of the area where hikers had discovered items apparently belonging to the missing aviator.
A Thursday NTSB statement said, "The Bellanca 8KCAB (N240R) has been missing since September 3, 2007, when the pilot departed Yerington, Nevada for a local flight. The wreckage was located at about 10,000 feet of elevation in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the vicinity of Mammoth Lakes, California."
Hours before Wednesday's aerial sighting, hikers found cash and identification cards with Fossett's name.
"We're not certain that it belongs to Steve Fossett, but it certainly has his name on the I.D." said Mammoth Lakes Police Chief Randy Schienle.
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Apparent Steve Fossett belongings found
Schienle said a sweat shirt was found as well.
A Chicago probate court judge declared Fossett dead in February.
Fossett was last seen the morning of September 3, 2007, when he took off from the Flying-M Ranch outside Minden, Nevada, in a single-engine plane. He said he was taking a pleasure flight over the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
He was carrying a bottle of water and had no parachute.
He had planned to fly over the Nevada desert for two to three hours and was expected to return for lunch at the ranch, owned by hotel magnate Barron Hilton.
At 3 p.m., when he had not returned, a search began that ultimately included thousands of volunteers, hundreds of officials, and dozens of aircraft, scouring an area more than twice the size of New Jersey.
The search was officially suspended October 2, 2007.
Fossett made his money in the financial services industry, but is renowned for his daredevil exploits, which include non-stop, round-the-world trips aboard a balloon, a fixed-wing plane and a boat.
He was the first person to circle the globe solo in a balloon, accomplishing the feat in 2002, and he was the first to fly a plane around the world solo without refueling, which he did in 2005. He also set world records in round-the-world sailing and cross-country skiing
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Originally Posted by Phil D.
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