Nye County Board of Commissioners honors missing plane recovery mission
In January, news reports were full of stories about a small private plane that had gone missing after taking off from an airport in North Las Vegas, which was later found crashed near the top of Mount Jefferson, about 70 miles northeast of Tonopah. Earlier this month, the Nye County Board of County Commissioners officially recognized a number of people and organizations that worked on the search and recovery operation.
The commission officially recognized the “the extraordinary efforts undertaken in response to the disappearance on Jan. 2, 2025 and eventual recovery of a missing aircraft and its occupant in challenging terrains and conditions.”
The proclamation specifically calls out Director of Emergency Management Scott Lewis, Patrick Lazenby, who is an administrator in the same agency, as well as Nye County Sheriff Joe McGill for their, “steadfast leadership, strategic coordination and unrelenting dedication to this mission, ensuring every possible effort was made in the face of uncertainty and adversity.”
According to multiple news reports, experienced pilot Michael Martin told the owner of the company where he worked that he was taking an early lunch but would return in time for a 12:30 p.m. meeting. According to Martin’s daughter Kathleen, his plane took off from the North Las Vegas Airport at 10:51 a.m. and the plane’s radio transponder stopped transmitting about 25 minutes later.
Less than an hour after that, at 12:06 p.m., his phone pinged near Tonopah and 20 minutes later, his iPad and Apple Watch both showed him near Mount Jefferson. According to his daughter, Martin used his iPad as a navigation aid.
His daughter also said that the family initially assumed he was taking a one or two-day break in a local hotel after a stressful holiday season and they did not report him missing until Jan. 5.
The wreckage of the plane was discovered on Jan. 18 by Nye County Game Warden Conner Friel. The proclamation recognizes Friel for his “tireless effort and perseverance” despite what it calls, “deep snow and hazardous wilderness conditions.”
The wreckage was initially declared as inaccessible with Lewis, after viewing an aerial photograph of the scene, declaring it an “unsurvivable event.”
The body and wreckage might have never been recovered had it not been for the efforts of a private helicopter crew from a company called Heavy D Sparks Recovery based in Salt Lake City, Utah. The recovery operation took place nearly a month after the crash, on Jan. 27.
At the time of the recovery, McGill told the Pahrump Valley Times that, “I didn’t go up to the top of the mountain, but the aircraft was brought down to us and it was completely destroyed. They flew up there and made the recovery. They wrapped everything in tarps and straps to secure it all together, hoisted it off the mountain, and transported it down to us.”
The proclamation, which was adopted on a unanimous vote without discussion, called the recovery mission a “model of determination and collaboration in the service of Nye County.”
