Missing Pilot's Plane Found Weeks After Mysteriously Disappearing During 'Routine' Flight

Mar. 15, 2025

Michael Martin.Photo:GoFundMe

GoFundMe

The plane of missing pilot Michael Martin was found near Mount Jefferson in Nevada on Saturday, Jan. 18, the Nye County Sheriff’s Office said in astatement.

The experienced licensed pilot, 65, had departed in his 1968 Piper PA-28-300 airplane from North Las Vegas on Jan. 2 but did not tell anyone, according to NBC affiliateKSNV.

Cathy Martin, his wife of 40 years, previously toldThe Las Vegas Review-Journalon Friday, Jan. 17, that she and her husband had “a little tiff” on Jan. 1.

The next day, Michael took off at 10:51 a.m. but his flight transponder stopped transmitting at 11:15 a.m. Around an hour later, at 12:06 p.m., Michael’s daughter-in-law, Kathleen Martin, said he was traceable near Tonopah, Nev., according to theReview-Journal.

Twenty minutes later, his iPad and his Apple Watch last showed him near Mount Jefferson, which is around 50 miles northeast of Tonopah and 281 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Stock image of a private Cessna 172 aircraft.Getty

Getty

Nye County Director of Emergency Management Scott Lewis told PEOPLE that search and rescue efforts initially took place in California, Southern Nevada, Utah and Idaho — but that as the investigation continued, “a lot of people with good intentions had information that was not leading to the location.”

As a result, they had to suspend air search and rescue operations on Thursday, Jan. 16. “But we never truly suspended all the ground [operations],” Lewis said, adding that people were still looking in the area.

Then on Saturday, Jan. 18, Lewis told PEOPLE that a game warden found the plane using special glasses.

In an update on Tuesday, Jan. 21, the Nye County Sheriff’s Office said that “based on photos of the crashed plane, there would be no chance of survival.”

Lewis explained that the search for Michael remains difficult because “the terrain is horrible” and at a very high altitude on the side of a cliff face, and the area covered in snow “is known for very unpredictable and high winds.”

“There’s just a number of different components to it. We understand the frustrations of family. We share those frustrations. We are extremely committed to the process,” he added. “But we have to make sure that safety is the very first component of this because if we lose someone else that would be a significant problem for everyone.”

Nevada Mountains.Getty

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Since Michael’s aircraft was found, his daughter, Katie Martin-Perry, has asked the public to help push to find his body, too.

“We need everyone, family and friends to start calling the governor’s office to demand that resources be spent to recover his body. They know the location, they just don’t have the will. They need to hear from constituents,” she wrote in aFacebookpost on Tuesday, Jan. 21.

“Nye County is stating that it could be several weeks until they have the resources to reach this site and recover Michael," Michael’s daughter-in-law, Kathleen, wrote onFacebook. “We are asking that everyone who reads this take a minute to call or email their state and federal representatives to ask that resources be expedited for this effort so that we can bring Michael home and lay him to rest. Please help us end the agony we have been in during this process.”

source: people.com