Mexico will aid search for LV pilot

Jerry Fink and Jace Radke

Friday, March 12, 1999 | 11:31 a.m.

Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., gained approval this morning from the Mexican government to send a U.S. Air Force plane to Baja California to help search for missing Las Vegas pilot Gus Sabo.

Bryan Chief of Staff Jean Neal said the approval is a precedent-setting action.

"The Mexican government has never let a military plane in before," Neal said.

She said an Air Force C-130 rescue plane is "sitting on the runway (at Point Mugu, Calif., Naval Air Station) just waiting for approval."

A U.S. Coast Guard C-130 already has entered the search, but it is not considered part of the military.

Neal said a force of 200 Mexican marines also is searching for Sabo, who disappeared Sunday after encountering bad weather on a return trip to Southern Nevada. He had spent several days in Loreto on the eastern coast of the Baja peninsula.

Several of Sabo's friends have flown to Mexico to help in the search.

Also searching for Sabo, who was flying a home-built aircraft called a Long-EZ, are members of the Civil Air Patrol and a unit of the San Diego Sheriff's Office Search and Rescue unit.

Neal said the search is in an area 80 miles south of San Felipe, extending from the eastern coast to 80 miles inland.

The area of the search was narrowed down by pilots who accompanied Sabo on the trip to Loreto as part of a fly-in by about 18 Long-EZ enthusiasts from America. All of the pilots flew their own craft.

On the return trip Sabo, 51, was flying formation with a friend from Las Vegas, dentist Jeff Glynn, when they got separated by bad weather.

Neal said a Mexican fisherman may have seen Sabo's plane circling in the air shortly before it disappeared.

"A Mexican search team found a fisherman who had seen a white plane circling at about the time Mr. Sabo would have been in that area," Neal said. " He was able to give some information that might help pinpoint a possible location (of the downed plane)."

She said the sighting was in the general area of the coast town of Rancho Santa Yzes.

"The search will be very concentrated in that area, but there will still be a wider search as well," she said.

Neal said the witness didn't see the plane crash, which gives some hope that Sabo may still be alive.

"We always have to have hope," she said.

Neal said the Air Force plan will be able to conduct a "very, very thorough search."

She believes the Mexican government approved use of the Air Force plane because the aircraft is primarily an airlift unit, not one used in military defense.

At a press conference Thursday Glynn asked for more volunteers to help search for Sabo, manager of the North Las Vegas Airport.

Glynn said he heard Sabo ask for a direction and heading three times over the radio before losing contact with him.

"I was the last person to talk to Gus at about 12:30 p.m. local time in Loreto, Mexico," Glynn said at a news conference Thursday. "We ran into some bad weather and saw clear air above it and went up.

"Gus went down to 7,500 feet when he thought he saw a hole in a cloud. Then I heard him ask for a direction and heading to San Felipe, and it was the last I heard from him."

When Glynn lost contact with Sabo, they were about 80 miles south of San Felipe.

Glynn said that there are between seven and 10 private planes searching for Sabo, but more help is needed.

"I'm making an urgent plea for help from any pilots out there that can aid in our search," Glynn said. "We need to get as many eyes and planes in the air as possible."

Pilots looking to assist in the search can call the North Las Vegas Airport at 261-3800. From there, pilots will be incorporated into a grid search that is being coordinated from San Felipe, Glynn said.

The terrain in Baja California is a lot like the area around Lake Mead, mountainous and rugged, Glynn said.