Crews search for pilot missing since Wednesday

Rescue crews on Thursday were searching for a pilot missing since he flew out of Truckee Tahoe Airport the day before.

Clayton Beck took off around 12:40 p.m. Wednesday for a short flight in the Truckee area, according to the Nevada County Sheriff's Office. The Truckee resident was due back in time to drive to Reno for a meeting that afternoon, but he never landed at the airport.

"He's an amazing husband and father, and we need him to come home," said Lisa Beck, his wife, on Thursday afternoon.

Clayton Beck was last seen in his two-seater, white with blue-and-red stripes RV-6 aircraft, tail number N27WR, according to the sheriff's office.

"He's been flying for 15 years. He's a very skilled pilot," Lisa Beck said.

He normally flies around Truckee for about an hour, she said.

"We've contacted the towers in Oakland and Reno, and neither had heard anything," said Dave Gotschall, Truckee Tahoe Airport general manager. "It's pretty odd."

The Nevada County Sheriff's Office is working with the California Office of Emergency Services and the Civil Air Patrol in search efforts.

"We have some aircraft up in a grid search," said Walt Jones, a sheriff's deputy and search-and-rescue coordinator. "It's a small plane that can land almost anywhere, so we're hoping he's going to call us and let us know he landed in somebody's barn or something."

Clayton Beck's grandfather, Don Beck, was killed in a crash into Lake Tahoe in 1991, Gotschall said.

Don Beck was an airport board member and considered one of the country's most skilled biplane pilots.

How you can help

Lisa Beck, his wife, described Clayton Beck as about 6 feet tall and weighing 180 pounds, with medium-curly hair and blue eyes.

The sheriff's office is asking pilots to keep an eye out and monitor 121.5 MHz.

People with any information should contact Nevada County Sheriff's at 582-7842.