I was just reading this article about the helicopter pilot who found the wife and children. It actually wasn't the chartered helicopter that found Kati and the children.

John Ranchor is a 58 year old, private helicopter pilot who knows the area well. He had a hunch about where the Kim's might be, so on his own initiative, he flew out to the area. The SAR and chartered helicopters were off searching other areas at the time. After Mr. Ranchor spotted Kati Kim waving her umbrella, he then contacted the chartered helicopter to pick them up (the implication in the article is that his helicopter is too large to land safely but the chartered helicopter was smaller and could land nearby. RAS posted a photo of a SAR chopper winching someone down that was very large, too.).

Mr. Ranchor also says that he is familiar with the logging road where the Kim's took a wrong turn well. The logging road is actually wider and better maintained than the main road, so he isn't surprised that they turned down the logging road when they were trying to backtrack to the main highway. At night, while it's snowing, on an unfamiliar road--sounds like a mistake any of us could make.

I tip my hat to the efforts of a private citizen to help out other people in need. Although the Kim's had heard helicopters earlier, they were never spotted. There's no telling when the official SAR and chartered flights might have found the Kim's without Mr. Ranchor's initiative and firsthand knowledge of the area.

P.S. Of course, as with all press reports, maybe even this story isn't quite as simple as it appears to be. We'll see.