Expedition opens on Nikumaroro to inspect possible Earhart wreckage

An expedition investigating Amelia Earhart's disappearance has started work on Nikumaroro, an uninhabited atoll in the Phoenix Islands, Republic of Kiribati.

The 17-person team went ashore Tuesday, October 13, to set up camp and prepare a concentrated search, according to the Archaeological Legacy Institute, which leads the effort.

The search centers on an object visible in satellite imagery, called the "Taraia Object," in the water off the Taraia Peninsula. Expedition leader Rick Pettigrew, ALI's executive director, said the area was chosen based on the castaway hypothesis documented over four decades by The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery. Pettigrew has studied the Taraia Object hypothesis for several years. The object could be wreckage from Earhart's Lockheed Electra 10-E.

Pettigrew said seven years have passed since the last authorized expedition landed on Nikumaroro, and more than 15 since anyone was on the Taraia Peninsula. The team will look for aircraft parts and clear signs of human habitation, and will conduct biological and environmental surveys with Kiribati representatives taking part.

Pettigrew approached Purdue University and the Purdue Research Foundation in February 2025, citing the university's historical connection to Earhart. The foundation helped fund her Electra, described as a flying laboratory, in the 1930s and later established the Amelia Earhart Fund for Aeronautical Research.