Missing airplane spotted near Tonopah
Just days after suspending the search for a missing pilot and aircraft, Nye County Sheriff Joe McGill told the Pahrump Valley Times that the plane was located Saturday afternoon, Jan. 18, in the wilderness of Mount Jefferson, roughly 70 miles northeast of Tonopah in Nye County.
McGill said that on Jan. 2, Las Vegas resident and experienced pilot Michael Martin, 65, departed from the North Las Vegas Airport but eventually lost contact with ground crews during what was referred to as a “routine flight.”
On Saturday, a Nevada Department of Wildlife game warden spotted the plane on a ridge of the mountain amid very and challenging terrain, according to McGill.
“He walked 12 miles in and out and was only able to get a view of it through binoculars,” McGill said. “It took him about eight hours.”
Pahrump Valley Fire and Rescue Services Chief Scott Lewis said efforts are underway to determine the best option to reach the site.
Lewis also serves as Nye County’s Director of Emergency Management.
“It’s located in a remote and precarious area on a rock face at approximately 11,000 feet in altitude, so it’s inaccessible by foot,” Lewis told the Pahrump Valley Times. “We’re working with our state partners through emergency management in order to get people to that crash site. Our attempts to do it via ground have been not successful. Air assets at this point will be the only available option, so we’re continuing that effort.”
Aside from the weather conditions and elevation of Mount Jefferson, McGill, meanwhile, said it may take several days for crews to reach the location for full recovery.
He also noted that the pilot likely did not survive the ordeal.
“All indications are that he’s probably still in the plane,” McGill said. “The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board, (NTSB) are working with us,” McGill said. “The temperatures were probably well below 20 degrees with 20-mile-per-hour winds. We will need to use a helicopter with a hoist to reach the crash site and get to the plane and pilot’s body.”
The plane, according to the FAA’s registry website, is a fixed-wing single-engine Piper model PA-32-300, manufactured in 1968 and registered to Michael T. Martin of Las Vegas.
