Latest news with #Nikumaroro
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Science
- Daily Mail
Fresh clues in mystery of Amelia Earhart point to plane crash near small island: 'Very strong evidence'
It is a mystery that has captivated the world for 88 years, and now scientists believe they have finally found Amelia Earhart's doomed plane. Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan vanished while attempting to fly around the world on July 2, 1937, sparking decades of failed searches and countless theories. A team from Purdue University claims they have located the Lockheed Model 10-E Electra plane off the coast of a small, remote and inhospitable island lagoon of Nikumaroro in Kiribati, nearly 1,000 miles from Fiji. Their theory is based on satellite imagery showing an unusual object on the ocean floor just feet from the shoreline, combined with artifacts, historical records, human remains and eyewitness testimony. Researchers said the size and composition of the object are an almost exact match for Earhart's plane, and they are planning an expedition to the island this November to investigate further. Nikumaroro also sits near Earhart's intended flight path, and almost exactly where four of her distress calls were traced, providing even more compelling evidence Richard Pettigrew, executive director Archaeological Legacy Institute (ALI), which is joining the hunt, said: 'What we have here is maybe the greatest opportunity ever to finally close the case. 'With such a great amount of very strong evidence, we feel we have no choice but to move forward and hopefully return with proof.' Earhart took to the sky on June 1, 1937, hoping to become the first female aviator to fly around the world. She and Noonan departed from Oakland, California, flew to Miami, continued down to South America, crossed the Atlantic to Africa and then headed east through India and South Asia. A few weeks later, they left Lae in Papua New Guinea with plans to stop on Howland Island on July 2 to refuel. But somewhere over the Pacific, they lost radio contact and were never seen or heard from again. Their disappearance sparked one of the greatest aviation mysteries of all time, leading to countless theories, from crashing at sea to becoming castaways on a remote island, or even being captured by the Japanese. Now, researchers believe they may finally have a lead, an underwater anomaly known as the Taraia Object, and they are building a compelling case. Among the strongest pieces of evidence are radio bearings from Earhart's distress transmissions, recorded by the US Navy, Coast Guard, and Pan American World Airways, which all converge near Nikumaroro. A 2017 forensic analysis of human bones discovered on the island in 1940 found that the dimensions matched Earhart's bone lengths more closely than 99 percent of the population, strongly suggesting they may have belonged to her. Researchers have also cited period-specific artifacts found on the island, including a woman's shoe, a compact case, a jar of freckle cream, and a medicine vial, all dating to the 1930s. Another clue is the Bevington Object, a photographic anomaly captured just three months after Earhart's disappearance that appears to show part of the Electra's landing gear on the Nikumaroro reef. The most recent clue fueling the theory is a 2020 satellite image of the object, showing it has remained in the same spot in the island's lagoon since at least 1938. ALI joined the hunt that same year after a private citizen, Michael Ashmore, noticed the object while studying 2015 Apple Maps imagery of the island. That discovery prompted the team to gather 26 additional satellite images from 2009 to 2021, along with three more from Google Earth covering 2022 through 2024. 'This object in the satellite images is exactly the right size to represent the fuselage and tail of the Electra,' ALI said in a statement. 'It also appears to be very reflective and is likely to be metallic.' The new mission, named the Taraia Object Expedition, will be carried out in three phases over several years. The first phase involves an on-site examination of Nikumaroro, the second will include a full-scale archaeological excavation and the final phase aims to recover the suspected aircraft remains. 'We believe that the result of this Phase-1 field examination will probably be the confirmation that the Taraia Object is indeed the Lockheed Electra aircraft,' the team shared. 'This work, then, is likely to solve one of the greatest mysteries of the 20th century.' This expedition follows several past efforts to crack the case, including a high-profile mission in 2019 by famed ocean explorer Robert Ballard, supported by National Geographic. Ballard conducted a systematic search of the deep waters around Nikumaroro but found no trace of the aircraft. However, current researchers said that outcomes do not rule out their theory. 'The plane ending up in the deep water is not actually a likely scenario, given what we know about the prevailing winds and currents along the northwestern edge of the island,' they explained. In 2017, the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) also investigated the island, deploying search dogs that detected the scent of human remains. But once again, no physical evidence was recovered. Earhart's connection to Purdue University adds another dimension to the search. Before the flight, she was hired by the university to advise women on career opportunities. 'About nine decades ago, Amelia Earhart was recruited to Purdue,' said current Purdue president Mung Chiang. 'The university president later worked with her to prepare an aircraft for her historic flight around the world.' Earhart was born in Atchison, Kansas on July 24, 1897. Her father was a railroad lawyer, but later suffered from alcoholism and the family often struggled for money. They moved often, but Earhart completed high school and then started at the Ogontz School in Pennsylvania. She left junior college early to become a nurse's aide in Toronto after visiting her sister in Canada and deciding to care for soldiers wounded in World War I. After the war, she started a premed program at Columbia but quit when her parents insisted she move back home to live with them in California. That was where she took her first flight in 1920, as a passenger with veteran flyer Frank Hawks. She was immediately entranced, saying: 'As soon as I left the ground, I knew I had to fly.' She started lessons - paying for them through her work as a telephone company clerk, and then bought her first plane in 1921, a Kinner Airster. Earhart set her first record just two years after she flew for the first time and before she even had her official pilot's license. In 1922, she became the first woman to fly at 14,000 feet. Then, in 1928, promoters started looking for a woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean and chose Earhart. As a passenger on Wilmer Stultz and Louis Gordon's plane, she flew from Newfoundland to Wales and became a celebrity overnight. She wrote a book about the adventure and went on a lecture tour across the US. Then in 1932, flying her red Lockheed Vega 5B, she became the first woman - and second person ever - to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic. The flight took 15 hours and she battled tiredness, cold and mechanical issues that nearly ended her flight in disaster as she plummeted 3,000ft on her descent and was forced to carry out an emergency landing in Northern Ireland. It did not put her off, and later that year she became the first woman to fly solo nonstop across America in 19 hours and 5 minutes.
Fox News
4 days ago
- Science
- Fox News
Researchers zero in on Amelia Earhart's disappearance after 88 years
Researchers are looking for answers and embarking on a special expedition following the 88th anniversary of the disappearance of American aviator Amelia Earhart. The Perdue Research Foundation (PRF, based in Indiana) and Archaeological Legacy Institute (ALI, based in Oregon) announced on Wednesday the "Taraia Object Expedition" project. Researchers will head to the remote island of Nikumaroro, which is halfway between Australia and Hawaii, according to a joint press release from the two agencies. While on the island, researchers will determine whether the "Taraia Object," a visual anomaly captured by a satellite, is actually the remains of Earhart's plane. Earhart is widely known as an aviation trailblazer, becoming the first woman to fly solo across the U.S. nonstop on Aug. 24, 1932. She once worked at Perdue University in Indiana, serving as a career counselor for women and advising the aeronautical engineering department while living in the women's residence hall. In an announcement of the new expedition, Purdue President Mung Chiang shared that "the Boilermaker spirit of exploration lives on." "About nine decades ago, Amelia Earhart was recruited to Purdue, and the university president later worked with her to prepare an aircraft for her historic flight around the world," said Chiang. Richard Pettigrew, ALI executive director, said in the release, "What we have here is maybe the greatest opportunity ever to finally close the case." "With such a great amount of very strong evidence, we feel we have no choice but to move forward and hopefully return with proof," he added. Earhart flew "The Electra," which disappeared on July 2, 1937. "Both Earhart and her husband and manager, George Putnam, expressed their intention to return the Electra to Purdue after her historic flight," said Steven Schultz, senior vice president and general counsel at Purdue. Researchers hypothesize that Earhart did not crash at sea, but instead landed and was stranded on Nikumaroro Island, later perishing there.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Amelia Earhart disappeared 88 years ago, on July 2, 1937. Purdue thinks it knows where.
(This story has been updated with new information.) WEST LAFAYETTE, IN — On the 88th anniversary of Amelia Earhart's disappearance, the Purdue Research Foundation and the Archaeological Legacy Institute (ALI) announced a joint effort to locate the flight pioneer's long lost aircraft. The official search, named the "Taraia Object Expedition," will begin on Nov. 5, PRF said in a news release Wednesday morning ahead of a press conference, when a field team organized by ALI visits the island Nikumaroro, part of the Phoenix Islands in the island nation of Kiribati, by sea. The expedition, the release said, will determine whether a visual anomaly known as the "Taraia Object," seen in satellite and other imagery in the island's lagoon, is what remains of Earhart's Lockheed Electra 10E airplane. Standing directly in front of the hangar Earhart once flew out of at the Purdue University Airport, Richard Pettigrew, ALI's executive director, said the expedition could be the "greatest opportunity ever" to finally close the nearly century-old mystery. "With such a great amount of very strong evidence, we feel we have no choice but to move forward and hopefully return with proof," Pettigrew said. "I look forward to collaborating with Purdue Research Foundation in writing the final chapter in Amelia Earhart's remarkable life story.' Earhart became a visiting professor at Purdue in 1935, and she's one of Purdue's most famous former staff members. A New York Times headline from 1936 proclaimed, "MISS EARHART TO GET 'FLYING LABORATORY'; Purdue Announces $50,000 Fund to Provide a Special Plane for Her Researches." On July 2, 1937, she disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the world. 'About nine decades ago, Amelia Earhart was recruited to Purdue, and the university president later worked with her to prepare an aircraft for her historic flight around the world,' Purdue President Mung Chiang said in the release. 'Today, as a team of experts try again to locate the plane, the Boilermaker spirit of exploration lives on.' Steven Schultz, senior vice president and general counsel of Purdue University, said that in recognition of the foundation's contribution, Earhart and her husband, George Putnam, intended to give the plane to Purdue upon her return, where it would be used to further scientific research in aeronautics. 'Both Earhart and her husband and manager, George Putnam, expressed their intention to return the Electra to Purdue after her historic flight,' Schultz said. 'Based on the evidence, we agree with ALI that this expedition offers the best chance not only to solve perhaps the greatest mystery of the 20th century, but also to fulfill Amelia's wishes and bring the Electra home.' The price tag of the November expedition is estimated at $900K, Schultz said. Of the total, $400K has been raised so far through efforts by ALI, Schultz said, with the remaining $500K being provided by PRF through a line of credit. No Purdue faculty are scheduled to be included on the expedition, Schultz said, but Purdue alumnus Marc Hagle, who became the first married couple alongside his wife, Sharon, in 2022 to embark on a commercial space flight with Blue Origin, has been designated as a special emissary to the exploration. The Electra, which disappeared on July 2, 1937, has never been recovered, but a vast amount of circumstantial evidence has been amassed, the release said, largely by The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGER) over nearly 40 years, supporting the Nikumaroro hypothesis. This idea posits that Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, did not crash at sea but instead landed and were marooned on an uninhabited island and subsequently perished there. The hypothesis, as updated by ALI with new evidence for the Taraia Object, is based on documentary records, photographs and satellite images, physical evidence, and personal testimony, the release said, including these highlights: Radio bearings recorded from radio transmissions at the time by the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Coast Guard and Pan American World Airways, which converge on Nikumaroro A 2017 analysis of human bones discovered on the island in 1940, which determined Earhart's bone lengths were more similar to the discovered bones than 99% of individuals, strongly supporting the conclusion they belong to Earhart Artifacts including a woman's shoe, a compact case, a freckle cream jar and a medicine vial — all dating to the 1930s The Bevington Object, a photographic anomaly captured just three months after the plane's disappearance, which appears to represent one of the Electra landing gear on the Nikumaroro reef The Taraia Object, located in 2020, which has been in the same place in the lagoon since 1938 Schultz said in his more than 12 years as general counsel for the university, Purdue and PRF have been contacted "several" times with claims that the plane had been located, but none had been as strong of a case as ALI's. Some of the evidence that strengthens ALI's case, Schultz said, is evidence of directional bearings from Earhart's radio signals captured at the time. Schultz said Earhart's voice was heard on U.S. mainland over radio signals in the days following her disappearance, which could have been possible only had her plane survived. Pettigrew said it is often misunderstood that Earhart's plane "crash landed," but he said that couldn't have been true. "We're talking about a successful landing on the reef with an intact aircraft," Pettigrew said. "I think it's likely that Amelia was planning to be rescued, refueled, take off again and make it to Hawaii and continue on to California to complete her journey. That was her hope. And for a period of maybe five days, that hope remained alive." But in the days that followed Earhart's landing on the remote island, Pettigrew said, the tide would have risen, causing the airplane, which had been completely depleted of fuel, to be lifted off its landing place. "In this concept, the plane would have been rolled and crashed up against the reef as a consequence of the surf and would have broken up," Pettigrew said. "The outer wings would have come off first, then the engine, the landing gear … And remember, it was full of empty gas tanks, so it would be very buoyant." In early 2024, Deep Sea Vision, a marine robotics company in South Carolina, made headlines when it reported that scans of a blurry sonar image could be the missing Electra plane deep in the Pacific Ocean. Schultz said that claim has since been debunked, and that while Deep Sea Vision's thought-to-be location was deep under water, ALI's location is in very shallow water. Ric Gillespie, an author and expedition leader of 12 searches in the South Pacific for Earhart's plane, said in an interview Wednesday morning for the TODAY Show that he is skeptical of the satellite photos of the proposed site. Gillespie said in the interview his team had previously searched the proposed site, but found nothing, noting it could be a "coconut tree complete with root ball." But Schultz said the university and ALI have strong reasons to believe it's not a tree stuck in the water. With the evidence produced, Schultz said, if Purdue and ALI don't pursue the possibility of finding the long lost Electra plane, then who will? "Purdue is known for calculated risks, and this is a calculated risk," Schultz said. "We feel like we owe it to the legacy to take it." ALI plans to post project updates, beginning soon, on its subscription video platform, Heritage Broadcasting Service, the release said. If the initial expedition proves successful in confirming the identity of the aircraft, PRF and ALI plan to return for larger excavation efforts in 2026 to uncover and help return what remains of Earhart's plane. Schultz said at this time, no money has been set aside for if the plane is found and returned to the university. If the plane is found through this expedition, Schultz said, Purdue has the strongest equitable claim to the remains of the Electra. "That's based on the clear intent, the donated intent, of Amelia and her husband to bring the plane back to Purdue, and the fact that we facilitated it," Schultz said. "Obviously there are a lot of stakeholders now involved in this, not the least of which is Rick and Ali, but also the people of the Republic of Kiribati, and their views on this matter is very important." Jillian Ellison is a reporter for the Journal & Courier. She can be reached via email at jellison@ This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Purdue Research Foundation says it plans to locate Amelia Earhart's plane
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
‘Maybe the greatest opportunity ever': Researchers announce new expedition to locate Amelia Earhart's lost plane
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WGN) — Nearly 90 years after Amelia Earhart mysteriously disappeared while attempting to circumnavigate the globe, researchers have announced a new expedition to locate the aviation pioneer's lost aircraft. On Wednesday, (PRF) and (ALI) announced 'the Taraia Object Expedition,' a joint effort to locate Earhart's lost aircraft. According to the PRF, the expedition is expected to get underway in November of 2025 and will begin with a visit to the site of the visual anomaly known as the 'Taraia Object,' which researchers believe may possibly be the remains of the Lockheed Model 10E Electra, also known as the the 'flying laboratory,' flown by Earhart and Fred Noonan during their 1937 journey. 'What we have here is maybe the greatest opportunity ever to finally close the case,' ALI executive director Richard Pettigrew said. 'With such a great amount of very strong evidence, we feel we have no choice but to move forward and hopefully return with proof. I look forward to collaborating with Purdue Research Foundation in writing the final chapter in Amelia Earhart's remarkable life story.' Read more: Latest Chicago news and headlines The 'Taraia Object' is the commonly used name for a visual anomaly spotted in the lagoon of Nikumaroro Island in the South Pacific Ocean. Researchers first became aware of the Taraia Object in 2020 after it was spotted in an Apple Maps satellite image. After learning about it, researchers began studying satellite images taken between 2009 and 2021 and discovered that the object first became visible in satellite images around April 27, 2015, shortly after Tropical Cyclone Pam passed by the island. According to researchers, a vast amount of circumstantial evidence amassed largely by the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery supports the 'Nikumaroro' hypothesis, which posits that Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, did not crash at sea but instead landed on an uninhabited island where they were marooned. Additional evidence that supports this hypothesis includes radio bearings that were recorded from radio transmissions at the time by the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Coast Guard and Pan American World Airways, which converge on Nikumaroro; artifacts dating to the 1930s that were found on the island, like a woman's shoe, a compact case, a freckle cream jar and a medicine vial; A 2017 analysis of human bones discovered on the island in 1940, which determined Earhart's bone lengths were more similar to the discovered bones than 99% of individuals; the Bevington Object, a photographic anomaly captured shortly after the plane's disappearance, which appears to represent a piece of the plane's landing gear on the Nikumaroro reef. The historic expedition is set to embark from Majuro in the Marshall Islands on Nov. 5. Crews will spend five days on Nikumaroro to inspect the Taraia Object, before returning to port on Nov. 21. If it is successful in confirming the identity of the aircraft, the PRF and ALI will return to Nikumaroro for larger excavation efforts in 2026 to uncover and help return what remains of Earhart's plane. LATEST CASES: Missing people in Chicagoland Purdue's role in the expedition highlights the contributions Earhart made to the university. Earhart had begun working for the university after Purdue President Edward Elliott became concerned that the women enrolled at the university were not completing their educations. He later hired her to serve as a counselor on careers for women, advise Purdue's aeronautical engineering department and allow her to enjoy access to the resources of Purdue's new airport. The PRF later funded Earhart's 'flying laboratory,' Lockheed Electra 10E airplane, through the Amelia Earhart Fund for Aeronautical Research. Upon her return, Earhart had intended to give the plane to Purdue for research, but it never made it home and now researchers are looking for a conclusion to the nearly century-long story. 'Both Earhart and her husband and manager, George Putnam, expressed their intention to return the Electra to Purdue after her historic flight,' senior vice president and general counsel of Purdue University, Steven Schultz, said. 'Based on the evidence, we agree with ALI that this expedition offers the best chance not only to solve perhaps the greatest mystery of the 20th century, but also to fulfill Amelia's wishes and bring the Electra home.' ALI's subscription video platform, , will be used to share updates on the project. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Researchers launch new search to find Amelia Earhart's plane
Researches hope to find evidence that will put to rest one of modern history's most enduring mysteries: what happened to legendary pilot Amelia Earhart? On Wednesday, researchers at Purdue University announced a new expedition that hopes to find some material evidence of Earhart's airplane. Using satellite imagery, the researchers have identified a spot on the tiny, remote island of Nikumaroro in Kirabati which they believe may be the final resting place of Earhart's plane, according to NBC News. The expedition was announced on July 2, exactly 88 years after Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared during their famed attempt to circumnavigate the world in her airplane. Earhart worked for Purdue University, and the institute helped to fund her historic, if tragic, final flight. Purdue said it plans to send a team in November to examine the site and, hopefully, find evidence of her Lockheed Electra 10E airplane. 'We believe we owe it to Amelia and her legacy at Purdue to fulfill her wishes, if possible, to bring the Electra back to Purdue,' Steve Schultz, Purdue's general counsel, said in a statement. The satellite photo fueling the new expedition was captured in 2015, just one year after a powerful tropical cyclone shifted the sands at the island, potentially revealing the plane, according to Richard Pettigrew, the executive director of the nonprofit Archaeological Legacy Institute in Oregon. Pettigrew took the satellite imagery to Purdue, which kickstarted the upcoming expedition. According to Pettigrew, the size and composition of the object matches parts of Earhart's plane, and the island's location is close to Earhart's planned flight path, and almost exactly where four of her last radio calls for help originated. 'It satisfies all the criteria,' he said. 'Everything fits.' Earhart's disappearance was a tragic final act after a decade of newspaper and radio stories documenting her record-setting flights. On June 17, 1928, at the age of 30, she became the first woman to pilot a plane — a bright red Lockheed Vega 5B, which she called "old Bessie, the fire steed"— across the Atlantic. The endeavor made headlines across the nation. Later, she became the first person to complete a solo flight across the Pacific, traveling from California to the Hawaiian islands in 1934. Earhart was initially treated as an aviation oddity due to her gender; news reports at the time called her the first "girl" to fly across the Atlantic, and another referred to her as an "aviatrix.' But as she continued to prove her prowess in the cockpit, she gained notoriety as a great pilot, rather than as a curious outlier. Even still, she used her growing prominence to push for equality in the skies; in an interview with the Evening Star in 1929, Earhart pleaded with the public to "give women a chance in the air." "Women can qualify in the air as in any other sport. Their influence and approval are vital to the success of commercial aviation," she said at the time. "Women and girls write to me by the thousands to learn the truth about aviation and what women's chances are. There is nothing in women's make-up which would make her inferior to a man as an air pilot. The only barrier to her swift success is her lack of opportunity to receive proper training." After numerous successful and record-setting flights in the late '20s and early '30s, Earhart set her sights on a new goal: becoming the first woman to circumnavigate the planet in an aircraft. Following her disappearance, the public remained somewhat hopeful that she would be found to fly again another day. But, after a two-month search that turned up no trace of her or Noonan, the pair were presumed dead. Pettigrew has been trying to find the remains of Earhart's flight for years. He has visited Nikumaroro, and said that a period-appropriate medical vial and American-made tool were found on the island, suggesting someone from the West — perhaps Earhart — had been on the island in some capacity around the time of her disappearance. According to National Geographic, four forensic dogs and a team of archaeologists with the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery traveled to the island in 2017. During that trip, the dogs reportedly detected the scent of human remains, though none were actually found. No one lives on Nikumaroro, and there is scant evidence of there ever being continuous inhabitation on the island. Two years later, famed ocean explorer Robert Ballard led an expedition to locate Earhart's plane or evidence that it had landed on the island. After days of searching both the island's cliffs and the surrounding waters, Ballard found no evidence of a wreck on the island. "We felt like if her plane was there, we would have found it pretty early in the expedition," Allison Fundis, Ballard's chief operating officer for the expedition, told The New York Times. The Executive Director of the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, Richard Gillespie said he doubts the Purdue expedition will turn up any evidence of Earhart's plane on their upcoming expedition. 'We've looked there in that spot, and there's nothing there,' he told NBC News. Gillespie has launched a dozen expeditions over the last 35 years searching for Earhart, including searches of Nikumaroro. He said the satellite image guiding the Purdue expedition shows an overturned coconut palm tree with a root ball that had been washed up by a storm. 'I understand the desire to find a piece of Amelia Earhart's airplane. God knows we've tried,' he said. 'But the data, the facts, do not support the hypothesis. It's as simple as that.' Despite his skepticism, Purdue will undertake the expedition regardless. The Purdue Research Foundation has extended a credit line of $500,000 to the first phase of the expedition, according to Shultz. The expedition members will depart in November and spend six days traveling to reach Nikumaroro. From there, they'll have five days on the island to investigate the object from the satellite imagery and determine whether or not it is evidence of Earhart's missing plane. 'If we hopefully solve the mystery and confirm that it is, then there will be further efforts to bring it back, hopefully to a permanent home,' Schultz said.
