Missing pilot’s plane found in remote area of Nevada with no trace of the man
Authorities have not been able to access the plane due to a lack of helicopters and poor weather
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Your support makes all the difference.A plane belonging to a pilot who has been missing since early January has been discovered with “significant damage” in a remote mountainous area of Nevada.
The wreckage of Michael Martin’s aircraft was located by a game warden Saturday in Nye County near Mount Jefferson, about four hours away from Las Vegas, Scott Lewis, the county’s director of emergency management, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
“Based on photos of the crashed plane, there would be no chance of survival. As of today, we have exhausted all possibilities of reaching the crash site at this time to complete a recovery,” Nye County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement.
Martin, 65, disappeared after departing the North Las Vegas airport in the Piper PA-32-300 and the search for him was launched on January 5.
Upon locating the plane, officials said they’d start “working diligently” to access the remote location, which is inaccessible on foot.
It is expected to take weeks before they’re able to recover a body from the area, the county sheriff said because two law enforcement helicopters are undergoing maintenance.
“We’ve exhausted all possibilities of how we’re going to get to the site,” Sheriff Joe McGill said, explaining that authorities contacted the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board for helicopters. The agencies reportedly said they could not provide the helicopters but are investigating the incident.
“The preliminary information we have is the plane impacted remote mountainous terrain under unknown circumstances,” NTSB said in a statement. The agency is expected to release a preliminary report in 30 days.
Even so, it’s not clear that Martin’s body is located near the plane. However, Martin said the plane looked like “it sustained significant impact damage” and he believes the body is inside.
Officials will analyze records like flight tracking data, air traffic control communications and weather conditions to determine what caused the accident.
Lewis anticipates investigators will be able to access the area soon. He cited high winds as the reason police couldn’t access the area Monday.
“It has to be absolutely safe for the people we’re putting into that area,” he said.
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