LOS ANGELES, Oct 2, 2008 (AFP) - Rescuers in California believe they may have found the wreckage of the small plane piloted by adventurer Steve Fossett when he disappeared more than a year ago, officials said Thursday.

The National Transportation Safety Board said in a statement that wreckage of what looked like Fossett's single-engine aircraft had been spotted in the rugged terrain of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Search and rescue teams began combing the area near Mammoth Lakes on Wednesday after the discovery of aviation identity cards bearing Fossett's name, a faded fleece sweatshirt and 1,005 dollars cash.

The location of the items was well within the range of the private airfield in Nevada that Fossett took off from on a solo flight on September 3, 2007 before he vanished.

Fossett's disappearance baffled rescuers who found no trace of the 63-year-old adventurer despite a massive search that involved dozens of aircraft taking to the skies to scour the region.

A multi-millionaire who made his fortune dealing stocks in Chicago, Fossett set dozens of world records in sailboats, gliders and hot-air balloons.

He famously made the first solo nonstop, non-refueled circumnavigation of the world in 67 hours in the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer. In 2002, he was the first person to fly solo around the world in a balloon.

In February, an Illinois judge declared Fossett legally dead at the request of his widow, who issued a recent statement that there were 'no further plans for additional searching.'

Fossett's iconic status and the unusual circumstances around his demise have brought comparisons to the enduring question of what happened to aviator Amelia Earhart, who vanished over the Pacific Ocean in 1937.