US:As the search for aviator Steve Fossett enters its second week, rescuers have received help from an unlikely source: Google Earth.
The satellite imaging programme has released new images of Nevada which, through a collaborative system run by Amazon called Mechanical Turk, enables individual users to search from their homes and notify rescuers in Nevada of potential leads. The system's creators say the plane Mr Fossett (63) was flying would appear as an object about "21 pixels long and 30 pixels in wingspan".
But rescuers assembled in the western Nevada desert close to the California border are becoming increasingly frustrated. A second wreck was found on Sunday, but again it was not Mr Fossett's plane.
"We're finding them left and right. Nevada is a graveyard," Kim Toulouse, a spokesman for the Nevada department of wildlife, told the Associated Press.
There are 129 known crash sites in Nevada, but officials estimate that over the last 50 years more than 300 small planes have disappeared in the state.
The false alarms highlight some of the difficulties facing rescuers as they comb 50,000sq km (19,300sq miles) of wilderness.
At least six old crash sites have been discovered since Mr Fossett went missing on September 3rd. He set off in a two-seat Bellanca Citabria Super Decathlon from the private airfield of hotel magnate Barron Hilton for what was to be a three-hour trip. The plane was one of a selection at the Flying M ranch owned by Mr Hilton, the grandfather of Paris, for the use of guests. Mr Fossett and his wife, Peggy, were due to leave the ranch after his flight.
An experienced survivalist who was the first person to circle the globe in a balloon, Mr Fossett left no flight plan, instead departing with the words: "I head for the south." It is believed that he took the flight to scout for locations for an attempt on the land-speed record.
On Sunday rescuers changed tactics, focusing the search on a 50-mile area around the ranch's mile-long airstrip because most crashes occur within that radius.
"We've got close to 100 per cent covered, at least in some cursory fashion," Mr Ryan said. "We have to eliminate a lot of territory." Ms Fossett remained at the ranch, waiting with rescuers for news of her husband.