And the search area(s) is/are reasonably well known now - it was flying to Milford Sound, there were several mountain passes feasible for flying over the Main Divide in a rather underpowered aircraft to get there, and there were some statements from locals in the high country in the east who believe they heard the plane as it flew into the mountains that yielded places to look.

There's a general agreement forming about which area it crashed, but no evidence yet. Makes for good practice in extreme terrain for LandSAR exercises though.

So yeah, far smaller search area, still missing. Google ZK-AFB for more, there's a few books on it, one gent in particular has been searching most of his adult life for it.

Planes can be next to impossible to spot, even when they are next to a motorway.

It did not say all reported crashes other than this one were linked to crash sites.

The plane has to be there, no aliens would need it.

Depending on how dense the forest is and the foliage coverage you likely couldn’t spot it from the air.

Reminds me of search planes during WW2. They go out on search patterns over the Pacific and even with nothing but water, it was easy to miss an aircraft carrier unless you were relatively close (within 10 nautical miles).

The above is the Google Earth view of the area. Interestingly you can still see the (former) airstrips from the satellite view; just south of the point at Snag and slightly north of Aishihik; they were part of the Northwest Staging route.

Since the plane radio'ed in at Snag but failed to check in at Aishihik, in theory it would have crashed somewhere between those two points. The biggest lake between those points is Wellesley Lake, depth 65 feet. Might also be on land, anyone good at Where's Waldo?