New underwater search begins for Amelia Earhart's lost aircraft
A 17-member expedition has started a fresh underwater search at Nikumaroro in the Pacific for the Lockheed Electra 10-E flown by Amelia Earhart, examining an object spotted in satellite imagery.
An underwater search for Amelia Earhart's missing aircraft started on 14 October at Nikumaroro, a remote Pacific atoll, according to an expedition account. The 17-member team includes people from Purdue University.
The search is targeting an object in a lagoon that may be wreckage from Earhart's Lockheed Electra 10-E. Found in satellite images in 2020, it is known as the Taraia object. Later work established that it already appears in aerial photographs taken in 1938.
Researchers are starting with magnetometers and side-scan sonar to find metal items and structures beneath the sediments. A closer examination of the lagoon floor could follow.
Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, disappeared in July 1937 while attempting to fly around the world. One theory holds that they made an emergency landing on Nikumaroro, roughly 640 kilometres southeast of Howland Island, their planned next stop.
Whether the object is connected to Earhart's aircraft remains entirely open. The expedition said it is still too early to draw conclusions.
Sources
- aerotelegraph.comNeue Suche nach Amelia Earharts Flugzeug im Pazifik gestartet