The alleged crash of pilot Amelia Earhart still raises questions. Now a sonar image from an amateur researcher could provide new insights.
the essentials in brief
-
Pilot Amelia Mary Earhart was the first woman to cross the Atlantic in an airplane.
-
While attempting to circumnavigate the Earth at the equator, she probably crashed with her navigator Fred Noonan – the wreckage and its occupants were never found.
-
A sonar image in which an aircraft is said to be visible could now be the American’s missing plane.
The American Amelia Mary Earhart is probably one of the most famous women in history. The daughter of a banker was the first woman to cross the Atlantic in an airplane on June 17th and 18th, 1928.
On May 21, 1937, the pilot attempted to circle the earth at the equator. However, this attempt failed. So contact with Earhart was lost shortly before the Howland Islands (Pacific). In an extensive rescue operation that began immediately – in which 64 aircraft and eight warships were involved – around 400,000 square kilometers were searched for Earhart, writes “Welt”. On January 5, 1939, she and her navigator Fred Noonan were declared dead – but neither the plane nor the two occupants were found.
Im Video: Plane rocks heavily when landing in London: Heavy storm in GB
It was only around 84 years later that an amateur researcher and former US Air Force intelligence officer believed he could solve Earhart’s disappearance – using an image taken with sonar, reports the Wall Street Journal. A blurry sonar image should show the twin-engine plane that Earhart flew in 1937.
Eleven million dollars for search
A number of amateur researchers and scientists have been looking for Earhart’s aircraft, a Lockheed 10-E Electra, for years. Real estate investor Tony Romeo is one of them.
Romeo began a 100-day expedition in September with the high-tech Hugin submersible drone and a 16-person research team around the Pacific island of Tarawa. The crew recorded a “sonar image of an aircraft-shaped object” about a month after the start of the research trip, reports “Bild”. Geographically, the photo corresponds to the place where Earhart’s plane probably crashed, as Dorothy Cochrane, curator at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum, confirmed to the Wall Street Journal – namely about 160 kilometers off the Howland Islands. The expedition cost Romeo about eleven million dollars.
However, there is also criticism because such a blurry image would not be enough, other experts complain. Andrew Pietruszka, an underwater archaeologist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, criticizes: “Unless you physically look at it, you can’t say for sure what it is.”
Romeo, however, is certain that the sonar recordings are of an aircraft – although not the American’s. At least the fuselage, tail and wings would be extremely similar to those of Earhart’s aircraft.
Therefore, Romeo now intends to return to the area with robotic submersibles and try to get closer to the object, which lies around 5,000 meters below the surface of the water.
Back in 2012, the Tighar Foundation launched a diving robot into the Pacific Ocean to search for the wreckage of the plane, writes “Spiegel”.
Im Video: Disappeared 155 million years ago: Researchers find mysterious continent
Zu Amelia Mary Earhart
Amelia Mary Earhart was born on July 24, 1897 in Atchison, Kansas (USA). After working as a military nurse and social worker, she began studying medicine. However, she dropped out and became a pilot, writes “Bild”.
Earhart needed 28 different part-time jobs to be able to afford her first plane and her pilot’s license. Her parents didn’t want to finance their daughter’s passion.
Earhart’s disappearance has given rise to a variety of conspiracy theories over the years. Among other things, speculation arose that she survived on a deserted island, was captured by the Japanese or was a spy.