Earhart expedition team says video possibly shows plane debris

Reuters ^ | August. 18, 2012 | Malia Mattoch McManus

[Free ThinkerNY]

(Reuters) - A team of researchers trying to solve the mystery of aviator Amelia Earhart's 1937 disappearance said on Friday that underwater video from a Pacific island has revealed a field of man-made debris that could be remnants of her plane.

The footage was collected in July by The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) during a $2.2 million expedition to Nikumaroro in the Republic of Kiribati.

Unsolved questions about Earhart's fate have long heightened her legendary status as a pioneering aviator, and TIGHAR's voyage to seek clues in her disappearance gained interest far beyond the shores of the remote island where the team searched.

The search was plagued by technical issues in what researchers described as challenging ocean conditions off the Nikumaroro reef, where they believe Earhart's plane landed and was then swept away into the sea.

TIGHAR Director Ric Gillespie said that once his team experienced the harsh conditions, they knew they would not find a "nice intact airplane." He added the local environment is "very severe" because the ocean "tears things up and tries to bury" them.

[SunkenCiv]

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[djf]

Jeesh!!!

FN find her already or quit looking! This drama has been going on my whole adult life! OK, well I’m not that adult, but you know what I mean...

Chinese water torture, the media version...

[The KG9 Kid]

I’ve almost given up hope they’ll ever find her alive.

[SIDENET]

I’ve almost given up hope they’ll ever find her alive.

We really need a "like" button on FR.

LOL.

[The KG9 Kid]

All we have is a ‘dont like’ button.

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

In aviation circles tighar is a joke and nothing more.They manage to find somebody to put up some money and go hang out in the sunny south pacific.Nice work if you can get it.

[bunkerhill7]

What I could never fathom was why they would fly a plane with wheels over thousands of miles of open ocean.
Wouldn`t have common sense dictated to use a float plane instead?

[Repeat Offender]

I’ve almost given up hope they’ll ever find her alive.

Don't worry, she still gets to vote democrat every election.

[JoeProBono]

[Melas]

Wouldn`t have common sense dictated to use a float plane instead?

Where would you fuel it up? Air strips were rare enough in 1937, let alone ports for sea planes. You have to keep in mind that as far as aviation goes, pre-WWII and post WWII are different worlds in not only aircraft but in the infrastructure that supports them.

[Maurice Tift]

  I’ve almost given up hope they’ll ever find her alive.

  I'm still upset about the whole Judge Crater thing.

[Sacajaweau]

There is no mystery...Her plane crashed and she died.

[Chainmail]

Yes, a float plane would have made a lot more sense - the effort was cursed with poor thinking from the outset. Lousy radio choices, poor crew layout, and to be really honest, an untalented pilot. Amelia may have had the media and the money sewn up but she was no great shakes in less-than-ideal conditions. She ground-looped that same plane in her first attempts at this flight. Hubby had a ton of money, so she had the sponsoring to go ahead and kill herself and Fred Noonan anyway.

[blitz128]

Shocking, they may have found plane wreckage in an area of the world where there is ample amounts of that, shocking

[Roccus]

Where would you fuel it up? Air strips were rare enough in 1937, let alone ports for sea planes.

Hawaii, Guam, Midway and Wake were used as refueling bases by Pan-Am when it started paid passenger flights across the Pacific in Oct. 1936.

[urtax$@work]

Have read several AE books , two of the best are:

Search for Amelia Earhart, Fred Goerner, 1966

Amelia Earhart: The Mystery Solved, Elgin and Marie Long, 2001

The Goerner book offered the theory of a Saipan internment, but never mind that - best part of the book is the author's ancillary account of US Navy life on Saipan in the early 60s during his research -(surreal Spielburgish).

The Elgin Long book is probably the truest book. Long has a very storied career in aviation. Theorizes that AE left New Guinea without full tanks and ran out of gas. Also explains what Noonan's navigation procedure was and gives a most likely area of ditching.

Currently reading Fix on the Rising Sun, Charles Hill , 2000. About the supposed hijacking of PAN AM Hawaill Clipper in '37, by the Japs. Really stretches stuff , but i bought it and have to read it now. Did give some ancillary insight on USMC Earl Ellis that i found interesting and gives some good info on the Mandated Islands that Japan was fortifying.

Conclusion is: quit looking on islands for AE, look in the deep. Funnel remaining research funds to flesh out the last years of LTC., Earl Hancock Ellis USMC Intelligence Officer. Now that would make a great read!

[bunkerhill7]

Coulda refueled at sea from rendezvous tankers?

[Zman516]

Yep.

Vast ocean, miniscule island, out of fuel, inferior navigation equipment.

Simple as that.

[Huskrrrr]