Planes search through night for missing US millionaire

Air crews searched through Thursday night for missing US adventurer Steve Fossett on a mission they likened to looking for a needle in a haystack in the vast Nevada desert.

Four days after Fossett's plane vanished, authorities dramatically increased the search area to 26,000 sq km from an original 1,600 sq km.

But they said it could take two weeks or more to find the 63-year-old millionaire and aviation record-setter who disappeared on Monday.