Nevada Fixed Wing Aviation Accident Fatality 1964

Clay Farnsworth, 35, was a Boise, Idaho, pilot whose company had been one of the first to contract with the Bureau of Land Management for helicopter services. Clay was part of the army of wildland firefighters to respond to Nevada’s destructive wildland fire season of 1964. He had been ferrying firefighters to the Elko area and was returning to Boise at the time his plane crashed 10 miles north of the Elko airport on August 16, 1964. At the time of the accident, Farnsworth was the only occupant of the Cessna 182 aircraft. The cause of the accident was attributed to smoke obscuration of terrain.