Steve Fossett officially declared dead

Missing millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett has officially been declared dead.

The record-setting traveler disappeared on September 3 2007 after taking off in a private plane from an airstrip in Nevada.

Fossett, 63, was on a pleasure flight in the single-engine plane when he went missing in a remote mountain range on his way to California.

Now Fossett has been declared legally dead in a Chicago's Cook County Circuit Court, a necessary step to sort out his large estate.

Fossett made his name by setting world records in boats, planes and hot air balloons. He was the first person to fly solo nonstop around the world in a hot air balloon, and was a good friend of British tycoon Sir. Richard Branson.