Another article said the owner of the plane had just cleaned it out:

"Erbey said her husband had recently cleaned out the airplane and not yet put back the emergency kit when the group decided to take it up for a quick trip. The visitors were wearing light jackets but not enough for an extended stay on a glacier, she said."

They've had an HH-60 helicopter and a C-130 Hercules circling (for refueling the chopper). It took the four soldiers 21 hours to travel the four miles to the crash.

A slightly more expensive version of the usual, "Oh, we aren't taking anything but a bottle of water with us -- we'll only be gone for a couple of hours".

Well, if it's 90F in Texas, I guess it's warm enough not to take extra clothing in Alaska.

Sue