Having spent a fair bit of time flying VFR in southern Qld, I feel a pit in the stomach for the pilot and passengers. Do enough VFR and pilots soon work out where they can squeeze through during periods of cruddy weather. That area is just a huge trap in bad weather, particularly with a SE flow. The clouds stick to the hills and have ragged bases and there is just no safe way through the hills. VFR flights to the south have to be planned coastal or inland via Kingaroy and if the weather is really bad, then Kingaroy is out of action too and the pilot on the inland leg has to come south of Toowoomba before turning east. On the coastal side, the low cloud in combination with the higher ground around Gympie and Nambour really pushes the VFR pilot right to the coast. There are simply no shortcuts. Must be extremely difficult for the searchers. Hopefully the aircraft occupants are okay and just waiting to be found.