Fixes provided in routing for IFR flight plans - VFR waypoints okay?

Travis Marlatte writes:

SAR is not going to be able to go directly to the point where you went down.
All they know is when where you started from, where you were going, and how
you were planning to get there.

They know all the position reports I made, too. So they should be
able to extrapolate from my last position report and narrow things
down considerably.

The closer to the center line of that planned route you
are when you go down, the better the odds of them finding you. Lat/long
fixes or formal NAVAID fixes, it doesn't really matter.

Which is where RNAV comes in handy. I would tend to favor RNAV for
any long flight, even VFR. I can look out the window and see if the
scenery matches what I expect based on the navigation.

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