Found Deceased NV - Michael Martin, 65, missing pilot, left North Las Vegas AP in his plane, transponder stopped near Jefferson Peak, north of Tonopah, 2 Jan 2025

[Unalienable Rights]

https://www.facebook.com/RedRockSAR/posts/1010956591066625

**Missing Pilot/Plane** Friends, authorities are looking for Michael Martin. He was last seen January 2nd in his plane. He is a private plane pilot and the last coordinates (38.770833, -116.926667) the family has shows him somewhere between the north and south summits on Mt Jefferson up near Tonopah ,NV at 1230pm on Jan 2nd. No one has been able to reach him and his phone and iPad are no longer on. If you have any information, please call Metro at 702-828-3111. Pictures and information posted with permission from the family.

((His last public flight logs show him closer to Vegas on a favorite flight path near Indian Springs NV with the last coordinates at 36.4926, -116.0617))

Las Vegas family on pilot who disappeared during flight: 'It's a big mystery'

A Las Vegas family is desperate for answers after a 65-year-old went missing on a routine flight in his plane. Martin went missing after taking off from the North Las Vegas Airport.

www.ktnv.com

January 9, 2025

A Las Vegas family is desperate for answers after a 65-year-old went missing on a routine flight in his plane.

Martin was an experienced pilot. He left work on his lunch break for another short flight— he often took those to relax and clear his head. This time, Martin never returned.

His family said his flight was intended to be a simple loop around Mount Charleston, but tracking data shows his plane's transponder stopped transmitting at 10,000 feet near Jefferson Peak, just north of Tonopah.

See more in linked article and video.

 

[Unalienable Rights]

This long article has more information about him.

Las Vegas pilot disappears over Nevada as family pursues answers

His family says Michael Martin, an experienced licensed pilot who owned a plane, took off from North Las Vegas and didn’t return. “We have not been able to find anything yet,” said the Nye County s...

www.reviewjournal.com

He told the owner of the company where he works that he was taking an early lunch, and would be back by 12:30pm for an important meeting.

His plane took off at 10:51am and flight transponder stopped transmitting at 11:15am. His last phone ping was at 12:06pm near Tonopah. His Apple watch and I-Pad showed him near Mount Jefferson.

He is an experienced pilot, and his wife says that if he survived a crash, he has the survival skills to survive in the wilderness.

He was an aerospace engineer and now works as president of Erickson International in Las Vegas.

His wife of 40 years said that years ago he left without explanation for one or two days.

He had a stressful holiday season, and his family thought that he might be taking a short break at a local hotel, so they didn't report him missing until Sunday evening (Jan 5). His wife said that they had a "little tiff" Wednesday night (Jan 1) but they discussed it and he wasn't mad.

Nye County Director of Emergency Management said that because of the delay between the time he went missing and the time Nye County was notified on Monday morning (Jan 6), the searchers were behind from the beginning.

 

[truthfinder2019]

• His Tesla is still parked at the airport.
• Search teams from the Nevada National Guard, Civil Air Patrol and Red Rock Search and Rescue are now searching the Tonopah area, where his personal devices last pinged.

Las Vegas family on pilot who disappeared during flight: 'It's a big mystery'

A Las Vegas family is desperate for answers after a 65-year-old went missing on a routine flight in his plane. Martin went missing after taking off from the North Las Vegas Airport.

www.ktnv.com

• Around 20 rescue team members from the National Guard, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, and deputies are searching around the various peaks, conducting operations by ground and by air.
• The Nye County Sheriff tells FOX5, the conditions in the area are cold; on one peak, there is two feet of snow.
• Their search efforts have been hindered due to high winds.

Rescue crews search Nye County mountains for missing Las Vegas pilot

Rescue crews continue the search for missing pilot and Las Vegas resident Michael Martin around a mountain range in Nye County.

www.fox5vegas.com

https://dailycaller.com/2025/01/10/report-pilot-disappearance-flight-nevada-las-vegas-mount-jefferson-tonopah-search-team/

• The Nye County Sheriff’s Office says Martin did not tell his wife where he was going, or that he was even flying.
• Martin typically tells someone when he is flying

Authorities searching for missing pilot last seen in Las Vegas

Police are looking for a pilot who was last seen taking off from the North Las Vegas Airport.

www.kolotv.com

https://dailycaller.com/2025/01/10/report-pilot-disappearance-flight-nevada-las-vegas-mount-jefferson-tonopah-search-team/

• Martin has been a pilot since the early 2000s and is known for his love of travel. He also flew angel flights—helping transport critical patients to medical care.
• He was last seen wearing khakis, a blue button-up shirt and a black fleece vest with his hair in a ponytail.
• His six-seater white plane is a single-engine with blue and red stripes.

Las Vegas family on pilot who disappeared during flight: 'It's a big mystery'

A Las Vegas family is desperate for answers after a 65-year-old went missing on a routine flight in his plane. Martin went missing after taking off from the North Las Vegas Airport.

www.ktnv.com

His FB page

Michael Martin

Michael Martin is on Facebook. Join Facebook to connect with Michael Martin and others you may know. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected.

www.facebook.com

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[GraceG]

Public records (faa.gov website) show he has a private license and no instrument rating (the rating would be required only if flying with cloud cover that required flight by reference to instruments only). The weather looks clear though, so unintentional CFIT (controlled flight into terrain) which would result in a sudden stoppage of transponder signal, is unlikely IMO. There is always the chance of a mechanical issue (his airplane is 60+ years old but with regular maintenance such craft can be very reliable). But if he'd had a problem he likely would have had time to notify ATC and data would likely show a descent, or course reversal while he looked for a suitable on or off airport landing site.

The ADS-B (Automation Decision Surveilannce Broadcast) data shows the aircraft relatifvely level (give or take just a couple hundred feet) at a constant cruise speed before data suddenly stopped. To me that means that likely the aircraft impacted terrain and at cruise speed that would not be a surviveable event.

(Note: ADS-B works by broadcasting information about an aircraft's GPS location, altitude, ground speed and other data to ground stations and other aircraft, once per second)

Here's the Flight Aware printout of the flights last recordings: Flight Track Log ✈ N4151R 02-Jan-2025 (KVGT - FlightAware

The aircrft registration number N4151R is in photos from various media sources, I couldn'tfind a notation of the missing craft on the the Aviation Safety Information Analysis and Sharing (ASIAS) System Preliminary Accident and Incident Reports page maintained by the FAA and updated daily (monday for the flights over a weekend). That's not unusual for a plane that's "missing" and not confirmed crashed.

Given the remarks that he left without explanation for one or two days in the past so that when he went missing there was a delay in reporting because they thought "he went to a hotel" as well as a "tiff" with the spouse, self harm can't be ruled out, in my opinion, as opposed to just assuming a catastrophic failure of some sort in flight. There is also the thought of "did he turn off the transponder intentionally and then try and "fly under the radar?" elsewhere. Technology wise, possible but also too technically complex to try and explain in brief.

Again, my opinions only. Hopefully, someone will spot the airplane.

 

[GraceG]

Just to add: There's been some speculation on the internet that he may not have crashed because the ELT (Emergency Locator Transmitter) did not activate (it transmits on a frequency other airplanes can pick up). Actually the success rate of an ELT going off in an actual crash is about 25%. So in roughly 75% of crashes you DON'T get an ELT. Emergency Locator Transmitters

 

[truthfinder2019]

Rescue crews have been tirelessly searching for any sign of Martin or his aircraft, but so far, their efforts have been unsuccessful.

According to authorities, his plane, a 1968 Piper Cherokee, stopped transmitting a location outside of Indian Springs, but flight data did not show any descent or drop in altitude.

They are also urging hikers and campers in the area to keep an eye out

https://www.fox44news.com/business/press-releases/ein-presswire/775988037/rescue-crews-continue-search-for-missing-las-vegas-pilot-in-nye-county-mountains/

 

[Warwick1991]

Perhaps he collapsed from a medical issue, such as a heart attack or a stroke. The plane would have had no human input, and it would have ended up as a flight into terrain, perhaps into a nearby mountain.

 

[Quiet Time]

Perhaps he collapsed from a medical issue, such as a heart attack or a stroke. The plane would have had no human input, and it would have ended up as a flight into terrain, perhaps into a nearby mountain.

A lot of snow currently on those mountains too.
My nephew is in Nevada and I've seen his pics of the snow covered mountains in the background.

 

[Knox]

In an interview with Channel 13 on Friday, Jonathan Wallentine — who owns and operates Valley View Airport in Pahrump — said he believes the investigation needs to be broadened.

Wallentine says he even sent out one of his pilots to search for any sign of Martin's plane — and found nothing. That doesn't mean Martin couldn't have landed at a private airport — or even somewhere in the Nevada wilderness, he said.

The bizarre circumstances of Martin's disappearance should be taken more seriously, Wallentine argues.

Local aviation expert calls for missing pilot search to escalate: 'We currently don't believe he crashed'

In an interview with Channel 13 on Friday, Jonathan Wallentine — who owns and operates Valley View Airport in Pahrump — said he believes the investigation needs to be broadened.

www.ktnv.com

 

[GraceG]

In an interview with Channel 13 on Friday, Jonathan Wallentine — who owns and operates Valley View Airport in Pahrump — said he believes the investigation needs to be broadened.

Wallentine says he even sent out one of his pilots to search for any sign of Martin's plane — and found nothing. That doesn't mean Martin couldn't have landed at a private airport — or even somewhere in the Nevada wilderness, he said.

The bizarre circumstances of Martin's disappearance should be taken more seriously, Wallentine argues.

Local aviation expert calls for missing pilot search to escalate: 'We currently don't believe he crashed'

In an interview with Channel 13 on Friday, Jonathan Wallentine — who owns and operates Valley View Airport in Pahrump — said he believes the investigation needs to be broadened.

www.ktnv.com

I'm glad he's keeping this in the news but remember the "expert" has a private pilots license for small single engine airplanes (one's license info is a public record). He's not a professional pilot or accident investigator. His statement that the plane couldn't have crashed because the ELT didn't go off - I'd linked the Aircraft Owners and Pilot Assn's article earlier but ELT's are NOT all that reliable and only go off in about a quarter of all crashes. But he's totally correct in that further search is warranted, in the area that the data stopped, in my opinion. If the aircraft crashed at cruise speed into uprising terrain, especially if forested, and with snow cover, it would be very difficult to spot. Small general aviation planes are designed to be lightweight. They don't do well at high speed impact and the wreckage is often highly fragmented and may be scattered over a large area. Unfortunately, with plane crashes in remote, especially high altitude, wilderness, even with extensive searching they are often not found for weeks, months, and sometimes years (stumbled upon by hikers). When Steve Fossets plane crashed (no ELT went off as it was destroyed in the crash), one system they used for looking for him was a Civil Air Patrol search plane equipped with the Archer System ( Airborne Real-time Cueing Hyperspectral Enhanced Reconnaissance - Wikipedia ) that can automatically scan detailed imaging of a given signature of the missing aircraft. After all searches were called off for Mr. Fossett he was eventually found when hikers found his ID scattered not overly far from the crash site.

 

[GraceG]

Rescue crews have been tirelessly searching for any sign of Martin or his aircraft, but so far, their efforts have been unsuccessful.

According to authorities, his plane, a 1968 Piper Cherokee, stopped transmitting a location outside of Indian Springs, but flight data did not show any descent or drop in altitude.

They are also urging hikers and campers in the area to keep an eye out

https://www.fox44news.com/business/press-releases/ein-presswire/775988037/rescue-crews-continue-search-for-missing-las-vegas-pilot-in-nye-county-mountains/

The Piper Cherokee designation is technically correct, but also not completely correct. The typical Cher0kees (PA140-160-180 models) are a four seat airplane with no autopilot The missing airplane is what is known as a "Cherokee Six" (PA32-300). With standard six seats, it will seat five-six adults, including the pilot. Some of them have a Garmin autopilot installed but not all. But the Six has a much bigger engine (typically a Lycoming 540 which is 300 hp). The smaller Cherokees typically have a engine that's the same HP as the designation (i.e. the Cherokee 180 has a 180 hp engine). With the larger engine you have higher cruse speed (around 150 mph) and allows the airplane to climb to altitude more quickly (though it's not super fast, I hauled some parachute jumpers in one, full load, several women,and not full fuel, so not super heavy, with doors off, and it took over 20 minutes to get over 10,000 feet). But at 10,000 the altitude last recorded in the missing plane, especially with just one known passenger on board, and assuming no cargo of note, at 10,000 it would be pretty stable for maneuvering. I personally wouldn't attempt a hard banked turn to avoid terrain at that altitude (good chance of accelerated stall), but the ADSB data didn't show any turns before data was lost.

 

[Unalienable Rights]

Nye County Sheriff's Office (NV) App Store Links

apps.myocv.com

Nye County, NV Sheriff's Office Press Release
January 16, 2025

MISSING PERSON AND AIRCRAFT

On 1/5/25 an overdue/missing aircraft was reported to the NCSO and reportedly last located in the area of US95/Mercury. Further information came in that it was last located on radar in the area of Tonopah and Round Mountain.

The pilot was identified as Michael Martin from Las Vegas.

Martin was reported missing through Las Vegas Metro Police.

Over the last 2 weeks, the NCSO along with Nevada National Guard, FAA, Civil Air Patrol and numerous other agencies have been searching the areas where the aircraft was last seen on radar or cellular phone service. These searches were conducted using Drones, fixed wing aircraft, helicopters, on foot and in vehicles.

Hundreds of man-hours have been committed to locating the pilot and aircraft with no results.

Today, the difficult decision was made to suspend the search for Michael and his plane.

If any information comes to our attention in the future, we will continue to follow any leads.

Our thoughts and prayers will continue to be with Michael's family.

Nye County police suspend search for missing pilot

The Nye County Sheriff’s Office says they are suspending the search for a missing pilot.

www.fox5vegas.com

Search for missing Las Vegas pilot suspended after extensive efforts

Authorities have suspended the search for a Las Vegas man, who was reported missing earlier this month.Michael Martin of Las Vegas went missing, along with his

news3lv.com

 

[GraceG]

Sad, but understandable. I know people would like to think he somehow turned off all the tracking capability for his plane and flew off to a new life, but seriously unlikely. Hopefully, someone hiking may find the aircraft in the spring so that the family has some closure.

I was trying to find an old photo or two (publically available from ntsb.gov) of how a debris field can be spread out and how tiny it looks from the air as an example. The first one attached taken from the air shows what investigators plotted out as far as the debris field in this high desert accident in California. You could BARELY see the pieces from the air and the impact was reasonably high speed so it spread out over a wide area.

THESE PHOTOS from ntsb.gov ARE FROM 10 or more years ago, NOT related to this missing aircraft.

The other two photos are from crashes in 2015 (old so closed cases with no active litigation) one taken from the Sheriff's helicopter, the other showing a different accident that same year, the impact "crater" in the foreground, the debris in the back. As you can see these would be VERY hard to see from a distance, and if there's forest cover, almost impossible to see with ground snow cover from the air this time of year. If learning about such things is of interest the www.ntsb.gov site has a search engine you can look for aviation crashes using filters for time, type, fatal or not, city, etc. Once you find the accident, click on "docket" to fine the case info including CVR transcripts, photos, medical info, etc.

 

[Knox]

Checking in, I thought Michael had been found. Thanks for the pictures @GraceG, I guess it really could be possible they just haven't discovered the crash yet.

 

[Unalienable Rights]

Missing pilot's condition unknown after plane is found near Mt. Jefferson, officials say

While the plane has been found, there is still no word on the condition or location of Martin — the only known occupant of the aircraft.

www.ktnv.com

Officials have confirmed they have found the plane of the missing pilot, Michael Martin, after weeks of searching.

According to Nye County Director of Emergency Management Scott Lewis, the plane was found on Saturday near Mount Jefferson — about two hours north of Tonopah — with "significant damage."

While the plane has been found, there is still no word on the condition or location of Martin — the only known occupant of the aircraft.

*****
The elevation and terrain of the mountains have made the crash site inaccessible by foot, but according to Lewis, they are working on getting helicopters closer to the scene.

 

[realanastasia]

Missing pilot's condition unknown after plane is found near Mt. Jefferson, officials say

While the plane has been found, there is still no word on the condition or location of Martin — the only known occupant of the aircraft.

www.ktnv.com

Officials have confirmed they have found the plane of the missing pilot, Michael Martin, after weeks of searching.

According to Nye County Director of Emergency Management Scott Lewis, the plane was found on Saturday near Mount Jefferson — about two hours north of Tonopah — with "significant damage."

While the plane has been found, there is still no word on the condition or location of Martin — the only known occupant of the aircraft.

*****
The elevation and terrain of the mountains have made the crash site inaccessible by foot, but according to Lewis, they are working on getting helicopters closer to the scene.

“A missing person's report obtained by Channel 13 from law enforcement indicates that Martin may have been upset and packed a handgun with him before he left.

"Michael drinks occasional but does not do drugs. Michael has no known medical conditions. He is not suicidal and can take care of himself," the report states. "...[he] is not on parole or probation. Michael may have $20.00 on his person. He does have access to credit and debit cards."

 

[Knox]

“A missing person's report obtained by Channel 13 from law enforcement indicates that Martin may have been upset and packed a handgun with him before he left.

"Michael drinks occasional but does not do drugs. Michael has no known medical conditions. He is not suicidal and can take care of himself," the report states. "...[he] is not on parole or probation. Michael may have $20.00 on his person. He does have access to credit and debit cards."

Did we know this information about the gun and being upset previously?

 

[truthfinder2019]

Why may have he taken a gun ? Why the think he may have been upset and what would be the reason ?

 

[Warwick1991]

Some people who fly in remote areas by themselves do take a gun with, for survival purposes. That is in case they survive a crash in a remote area with hostile wildlife, or for the possibility of emergency hunting for food. That's common in Alaska.

 

[GraceG]

Some people who fly in remote areas by themselves do take a gun with, for survival purposes. That is in case they survive a crash in a remote area with hostile wildlife, or for the possibility of emergency hunting for food. That's common in Alaska.

Although I've always owned a handgun, (both my parents were LEO's) I normally didn't take one flying (recreational flights) in my emergency kit (a pint of whiskey and a lot of chocolate, yes) in most of the the lower 48, but when I was flying in Alaska and Montana, yes, always tucked in with emergency suppies in a large for portable backpack I could remove from the plane quickly.

If Mr. Martin's aircraft had significant damage from what could be viewed from the air, my personal feeling based on experience was it was not surviveable Even if the wreckage itself looks even partially intact, the impact forces on the body, often result in fatal injury - often an aorta intimal tear or transection.

Often, the remains aren't found until the actual site can be reached. My thoughts go out to his wife and loved ones. The next days will be very difficult.