They had the ability to make a fire, which clearly made a significant difference, as it so often does. What intrigues me is how much media attention this fairly routine operation received. I think this is mostly because of the young children who were involved. had it been a bunch of 17-25 year old males, we would have never heard of them.

Today I read an article describing how they survived because of "some smart moves". Um, well...I guess they were dumb enough to get into that situation totally unprepared but smart enough to survive it? Obviously they were also very lucky; the manner in which they were found was a stroke of dumb luck. Obviously I'm glad they're okay- but hopefully they'll plan a little better next time.

I'd bet you $5 dollars that one or both the adults were smokers (of tobacco or...something else). As woefully unprepared as they otherwise seemed to be I imagine they at least had lighters.

actually it sounds like they were found not so much by luck but rather by a very well organized and well done search. One of the accounts said they had a few cell phone pings, which helped narrow the search area. Apparently they were spotted almost simultaneously from a CAP plane and a ground searcher glassing the area.

Heard tell that CAP now has a "cell phone forensics" team. One of the things they did on this search was to target areas that did not have coverage.

Well, like we say in landnav: "two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do!"

Phaedrus, I won't take that bet, because you are most likely correct. I've seen that situation lots of times.

... or he pulled a road flare from the back of the Jeep and used that to start the fire ... nahh, their from the Reno, LV area and probably carry a lighter and a spare, or books of matches in the console, or they just used the cigarrette they were already smoking.

Regardless, paraphrasing the FoxNews talking head, "starting a fire outside the Jeep to heat rocks to bring them into the Jeep was GENIUS" That last word is a quote.

Cell phones are now ubiquitous, and cell phone data is fast becoming a standard tool for search managers. You will recall that a few stray cell pings played a controversial role in the famous Kim search in Oregon, back in late 2006.

Depending on the the phone and carrier, a cell phone might provide GPS coordinates directly to the location of the phone. Even in "no service" areas, the odd ping might be picked up by one or more towers, and tower sector (directional) info might be obtained which can provide a rough location. Using this information tgether with topography, GIS can be used to estimate where the signal could be comming from, and which areas are almost certainly masked by terrain (ie. where the signal could not have come from).

A search manager almost never has enough resources to thoroughly search everywhere. Thus the task is to deploy resources in the most likely areas first. Any tool, such as cell phones, that helps narrow down the search area is hugely beneficial to the search manager. Because of legal and privacy concerns, it is usually necessary to have law enforcement involved in order to get this data from cell service providers. The actual technical work may be done by specialty teams, such as from CAP.

Interesting. What is the best course of action for the distressed person with a cell phone? Should one attempt to climb to a higher elevation or stay put? Climbing higher will more widely broadcast the signal, but it might also widen the search area...It is pretty common to have more than one cell phone in a group. Keep them all on or shut down some for later?

To an old geezer more active back in the 70s and 80s, this is really transformative technology - with all kinds of possibilities.....