French 'Spiderman' Climbs Frankfurt Skyscraper

French urban climber Alain Robert, well known as "Spiderman", climbs up the Deutsche Bahn high-rise in central Frankfurt, Germany, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
French urban climber Alain Robert, well known as "Spiderman", climbs up the Deutsche Bahn high-rise in central Frankfurt, Germany, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
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French 'Spiderman' Climbs Frankfurt Skyscraper

French urban climber Alain Robert, well known as "Spiderman", climbs up the Deutsche Bahn high-rise in central Frankfurt, Germany, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
French urban climber Alain Robert, well known as "Spiderman", climbs up the Deutsche Bahn high-rise in central Frankfurt, Germany, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

German police said Thursday that French urban climber Alain Robert faces a criminal investigation and fine after scaling one of Frankfurt's tallest buildings.

Robert, known as “Spiderman” for his daring stunts, clambered to the top of rail company Deutsche Bahn 166-meter-high office building, untethered and wearing a silver suit and cowboy boots.

Frankfurt police spokesman Thomas Hollerbach told The Associated Press that Robert is in triple trouble after the unauthorized climb.

First, Deutsche Bahn has filed a criminal complaint for trespassing against Robert. Second, he may be required to pay the cost of the police operation to secure the area during the climb. Finally, a drone that Robert's team used to film the climb didn't have the required authorization and could incur a further fine.

As a foreign resident, Robert was required to deposit a security against possible future criminal proceedings and then released, Hollerbach said.



Explorer: Sonar Image Was Rock Formation, Not Amelia Earhart Plane

A statue of Amelia Earhart at the US Capitol. Nathan Howard / GETTY IMAGES/AFP
A statue of Amelia Earhart at the US Capitol. Nathan Howard / GETTY IMAGES/AFP
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Explorer: Sonar Image Was Rock Formation, Not Amelia Earhart Plane

A statue of Amelia Earhart at the US Capitol. Nathan Howard / GETTY IMAGES/AFP
A statue of Amelia Earhart at the US Capitol. Nathan Howard / GETTY IMAGES/AFP

A sonar image suspected of showing the remains of the plane of Amelia Earhart, the famed American aviatrix who disappeared over the Pacific in 1937, has turned out to be a rock formation.

Deep Sea Vision (DSV), a South Carolina-based firm, released the blurry image in January captured by an unmanned submersible of what it said may be Earhart's plane on the seafloor.

Not so, the company said in an update on Instagram this month, AFP reported.

"After 11 months the waiting has finally ended and unfortunately our target was not Amelia's Electra 10E (just a natural rock formation)," Deep Sea Vision said.

"As we speak DSV continues to search," it said. "The plot thickens with still no evidence of her disappearance ever found."

The image was taken by DSV during an extensive search in an area of the Pacific to the west of Earhart's planned destination, remote Howland Island.

Earhart went missing while on a pioneering round-the-world flight with navigator Fred Noonan.

Her disappearance is one of the most tantalizing mysteries in aviation lore, fascinating historians for decades and spawning books, movies and theories galore.

The prevailing belief is that Earhart, 39, and Noonan, 44, ran out of fuel and ditched their twin-engine Lockheed Electra in the Pacific near Howland Island while on one of the final legs of their epic journey.

Earhart, who won fame in 1932 as the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, took off on May 20, 1937 from Oakland, California, hoping to become the first woman to fly around the world.

She and Noonan vanished on July 2, 1937 after taking off from Lae, Papua New Guinea, on a challenging 2,500-mile (4,000-kilometer) flight to refuel on Howland Island, a speck of a US territory between Australia and Hawaii.

They never made it.