. >> there's not an airplane at fort smith, no, not at greybull. no, she didn't go back to cody.ed back in laurel. >> reporter: mckengzy's plane like all such planes was equipped with an emergency beacon. elt they call it, which should go off in a crash, but there was no signal from any elt. so what did that make you think? >> that she's safe. if her elt could go off they'd pick of the signal and we'd go find her. we're thinking, this is a positive thing. >> reporter: unless -- unless it hadn't gone off because of something very, very bad. >> not having it meant that the airplane had crashed very severely. or was upside down. or possibly burned. >> reporter: shadows lengthen in the deepening afternoon. the forest fire smoky tail blurred the ground beneath them. and mckenzie's family, all they had to hang on to was knowledge that the searchers wouldn't quit. >> was there solace in that? no. it was miserable. i'm not going to lie. >> reporter: up in the air, they kept looking. suddenly, larry mayer spot add crashed plane right beneath him i. was a little startled to be looking for