id cards and the $100 bills in the dirt and the pine needles and stuff. and i we knnt wow. we put it altogether, it is that fossett guy. >> reporter: turns out these items are found in the original search area, the mountains. the search teams quickly change their focus once again. >> just about the time we were about to call off the search, the air national search spotted wreckage on the ground. >> reporter: it is fossett's plane, right along the original radar track, the very spot in play before authorities shifted their attention to the desert based on a so-called hot tip from a ranch hand. >> they probably could have found him relatively quickly if they had followed up on the evidence they had very early on in the search. >> reporter: instead of the plane being located in just days the search lasted over a year. and cost millions.