New Expedition Departs to Search for Amelia Earhart's Lost Plane in Pacific

A team of researchers from Purdue University and the Archaeological Legacy Institute is setting out for the uninhabited Pacific island of Nikumaroro to investigate a potential target that could solve the long-standing disappearance of aviator Amelia Earhart. Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, vanished over the Pacific Ocean in July 1937 while attempting to become the first woman to fly around the world at the equator. They departed from New Guinea on July 2, 1937, heading toward Howland Island to refuel, but lost contact before reaching their destination.

The Search Plan

The 17-member expedition, led by expedition leader and Archaeological Legacy Institute executive director Rick Pettigrew, plans to use drone photography, magnetometers, and sonar units to examine an anomaly in the island's lagoon. Satellite images taken after a powerful tropical cyclone hit the region in 2015 revealed an object in shallow water off the Taraia promontory that researchers believe matches the size and shape of an aircraft fuselage and tail. If initial findings look promising, the team intends to use a hydraulic dredge to remove sediment and check for aircraft aluminum and specific rivet patterns.

Differing Views

Other experts express doubt about the new lead. Ric Gillespie, executive director of the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, believes the satellite image shows an uprooted dead pandanus tree rather than wreckage, noting that his own group searched the area previously without success. Meanwhile, Dorothy Cochrane, a retired curator at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, argues that the plane lacked sufficient fuel to reach Nikumaroro from Howland Island and likely rests on the seabed near Howland.

Context

Amelia Earhart's disappearance remains one of aviation's most famous unsolved cases, drawing decades of independent searches and competing theories about her final hours. Uninhabited coral atolls in the remote Pacific often pose difficult conditions for archaeological recovery work due to shifting sands and rough ocean currents.