A pilot and three passengers in a small plane made an unplanned stop on a beach at Lake Mead National Recreation Area after the aircraft's engine shut down over the mountains around Lake Mead.  All occupants aboard the plane escaped significant injury.

At 5:18 a.m. on Monday, June 22, the Lake Mead National Recreation Area Interagency Communications Center was notified that a small plane had landed on the Special Events Beach in the Boulder Beach area. Since the seriousness of the situation was not immediately known, National Park Service rangers, Clark County Fire Department, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Search and Rescue, and Community Ambulance responded.

According to a park spokesperson, a male pilot was transporting three adult female passengers from North Las Vegas, Nevada, to El Paso, Texas. They didn't get very far; according to one of the passengers, the plane's engine stopped running over the mountains along the eastern side of the Boulder Basin.

The passenger told investigators the pilot circled back toward Boulder City to avoid landing in the water, or what would have been a certain crash in the rugged mountains. The pilot spotted a good candidate for a emergency landing area at Boulder Beach—which despite its name has a good stretch of sand without any boulders—and the plane glided to a landing on the beach.

Upon their arrival, emergency personnel found that the aircraft, a 1979 Piper PA-32R-301 (also known as a Cherokee 6), had landed on the beach between two portable restrooms. Two of the passengers were treated for minor injuries, and none were transported to a hospital. No park facilities were damaged, and it didn't appear that there were any leaks from the aircraft.

A portion of Special Events Beach is temporarily closed, until the aircraft can safely be removed and the investigation by the FAA, National Transportation Safety Board and the Park Service can be completed.