Search Operations are planned around the victim's probable location. Search Operations are continued for as long as resources can be found to search with and for as long as the human mind can imagine places to search. If we were in the Statistics Business few searches would end well. Most would be abandoned early on when the numbers declared all efforts useless. But then those we look for would be left to fend for themselves.
Statistics are a useful tool when examining probable victim locations.
But their usefulness ends there. An example is a search we once did in the Catalina Mountains for two overdue horseback riders. These folks left Catalina State Park on a warm December day to do a loop of the Romero, Lemmon Ridge, Saminiego, and Sutherland trails. They were long overdue when a search began in the wee early hours. Two teams of two went up the Romero and Sutherland trails.