"Saturday marked the sixth day he has been lost in one of the most unforgiving regions in the continental United States. Authorities expanded the overall size of the search area from 10,000 square miles to 17,000, a region about twice the size of New Jersey.
In a stark illustration of the region's remoteness, searchers have discovered six old plane crashes that had not previously been identified since they began the intensive hunt for Fossett on Tuesday.
Crews are marking crash sites discovered during the Fossett search and will return later to examine them in detail. No human remains have been found, which is no surprise in a region where coyotes and mountain lions are prevalent."
I am somewhat amazed that the search has uncovered 6 previous unknown crash sites! The effort going into this search reminds me somewhat of the time that JFK, Jr. crashed into the ocean off of Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard. There were several US Navy ships involved in the recovery effort (and in that case, nobody was looking for survivors, just victims).
There is something a bit perverse that 6 other crash sites have been discovered... suspect some of those planes have been missing for years!