Branson hopes to use Google images to find Fossett

OTTAWA, Sep 6 (Reuters) British billionaire Richard Branson said he was hoping to trace missing US adventurer Steve Fossett through a satellite mapping service offered by Internet data provider Google.

Branson told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp he was worried that Fossett, who disappeared over the Nevada desert after taking off in a small plane late on Monday, had not activated the aircraft's emergency tracking beacon.

''I'm talking with friends at Google about seeing whether we can look at satellite images over the last four days to see whether they can see which direction he might have been flying and whether they can see any disturbances anywhere that they can pin from space,'' he said from Barcelona, Spain yesterday.

The company's Google Earth product offers a mapping service which uses satellite imagery.

The search effort on Tuesday involved 13 aircraft looking for signs of Fossett's plane in the Nevada desert and the state's mountainous terrain.

Branson has teamed up with his friend Fossett on several aviation adventures and his Virgin company underwrote the US aviator's successful first solo nonstop flight around the world in 2005.

''He's not only the greatest aviator in the world, he's also the greatest gliding pilot in the world ... I'm very confident that he would have got the plane down in one piece as long as the terrain below him was desert and not mountainous hills or woods or rocks,'' Branson said.

''Having said that, obviously we're worried (about) the fact that there's been no emergency beacon go off ... He could be injured which means the emergency services have just got to get to him as soon as possible.'' Authorities said Fossett, 63, had planned to scout sites in the Nevada desert for an attempt to set a world land speed record, a bid that Branson described as highly dangerous.

''In fact, I've personally tried to dissuade him out of this particular record because there are extreme risks attached to it,'' he said.

Fossett, who was piloting a plane with enough fuel for four or five hours of flight, earned his fortune as a financial trader. In 2002 he became the first person to fly a balloon solo around the world.

Branson said it would be ironic if Fossett -- whose balloons were twice forced down into the Pacific -- had run into trouble on what was supposed to be a routine flight.

''If you look at the history of adventurers, it is so often the simple things (that cause trouble) ... Lawrence of Arabia went through everything and was then killed in a motorbike accident when he'd given up all his dangerous pursuits in Arabia. And that so often happens,'' he said.

REUTERS RJ MSJ RAI1041