To add more to this mix, The hilton's offered a huge reward, about
2 million if I remember right, and the onsueing hoard of freelance
searchers (mostly in planes) seriously endangered and hampered the civil air patrol
and others in the official search.

In most cases the lost and injured shouldn't be billed.

There are still places they haven't searched. I know of one eyewitness to a crash at that time that has not been checked out yet.
Our SAR group is headed down soon to get some nice backcountry
skiing in and see if any debris has melted out yet at the site.