First off, let me establish the title of this Forum entry is NOT my line. It is taken directly from the AiR & Space Smithsonian magazine, February/March 2008 issue, Vol. 22, No. 7 in the Features, p. 2 sub-head listing of the article titled "Anatomy of a Search", by Michael Behar.
The case is made in an eight page, illustrated article starting on p. 20 describing the CAP and military search for millionaire adventurer and multi-record holder Steve Fossett who went missing on a flight in N240R, a Bellanca Super Decathlon, from Barron Hilton's ranch strip near Yerington, Nevada on 3 September, 2007.
I recommend this article to anyone interested in why the search for Fossett was unsuccessful. The article states Nevada is our most mountainous state with 314 named mountain ranges, and more peaks over 10,000 feet than any other state. Also, it is our seventh largest state, and the eighth least populated, making the case that in that terrain "even a Boeing 747 could disappear". The CAP search scoured 30,000 square nautical miles, in multiple passes in some instances, using high tech optical and computer airborne assets described in the article. Read it, and ponder the enigma.