Items belonging to Steve Fossett, an aviator who's been missing for over a year, have been found by a California couple in the woods.

The couple, a fire fighter and his wife, were hiking in Mammoth Lakes, California, when they found FAA ID cards belonging to Steve Fossett - and police are saying the cards do not appear to be forged.

Authotities said they would deploy search teams as soon as possible.

Steve Fossett, the commodities trader turned record-breaking aviator, was declared legally dead in February of this years, five months after he vanished while flying in Nevada.

Judge Jeffrey Malak in Chicago granted the petition filed by Fossett's wife, Peggy, The New York Times reported.

Fossett, 63, who made millions of dollars trading soybeans, retired to a life of adventure. He set three round-the-world records, became the first person to circumnavigate the globe alone in a balloon and to fly a plane alone around the world without refueling, and set a speed record in his catamaran.

He disappeared Sept. 3, 2007, while on a seemingly routine flight in a single-engine plane. Fossett was staying at the Flying-M Ranch near Yerington, Nev., a resort owned by William Barron Hilton and open only by invitation.

An air search of the remote area on the Nevada-California border found no trace of the plane or its electronic beacon. (c) tPC (c) UPI