On Wednesday, researchers announced a new expedition to find Amelia Earhart aircraft based on evidence that the famous aviator could have been caught in a remote island in the South of the Pacific.
It is possible that the satellite photo shows the remains of an Earhart aircraft, glittering through the sand in a small, remote and inconsistent Nikumaror Island Lagoon in Kiibati, almost 1000 miles from Fiji, says Richard Pettigrew, not the Professional Archaeological Heritage Institute in Oregon.
In one of the most intriguing secrets in the world, Earhart and Navigator Fred Noonan disappeared in an attempt to fly around the world exactly 88 years ago, 1937. July 2
Taraia object along with Electra Fuselage and tail. (Institute of Archaeological Heritage 2025)
Now the University of Purdue, which has recruited Earhart and helped to finance its historic flight, said in November. He will send the team to the Nikumaror team, hoping to dig his Lockheed Electra 10E aircraft and return what’s left of it.
“We believe we are owed by Amelia and her legacy Purdue to fulfill our desires, to bring Electra back to Purdue,” said Steve Schultz, a Purdue general adviser.
The satellite photo was captured in 2015, a year after the intense tropical cyclone turned the sand that could reveal the plane, said Pettigrew, which took evidence to Purdue.
He said the size and composition of the object corresponds to the plane of Earhart. The location is also close to Earhart’s planned flight path and almost exactly where four radio calls appear to appear, “said Pettigrew, who went to Nikumaror.
“It satisfies all the criteria,” he said. “Everything is right”.
An archaeologist who has been trying to resolve Earhart’s disappearance for many years said other evidence, including the discovery of American -made tools and a bottle of drugs, shows that Earhart may have been in Nikumaror.
And 2017 Four forensic dogs and a team of archaeologists with an international historical aircraft reconstruction group (Tighar), who dared to Nikumaror, where channels indicated that they found the smell of human remains, says National Geographic.
Amelia Earhart with Pratt & Whitney R-1340-S3H1 engine and hamilton standard screw. (Purdue University Library)
However, there was no clear proof of her existence, Pettigrew said, and the object seen in the satellite photo was rude. In the images made from 2015, it is again hidden under the sand, he said.
“What we are missing so far is what you call what I call smoking weapons evidence,” he said.
Tighar Executive Director Ric Gilepie doubts whether they will find that evidence.
The Gillespie team organized a dozen expeditions in the project for 35 years and regained other physical evidence, which they believe shows that Nikumaror is where Earhart landed and died. However, he believes the object of the satellite image is the coconut palm tree with a root ball washed in a storm.
“We looked there at that place, and there’s nothing there,” he said.
After publishing the book “Another Good Flight: Amelia Earhart Tragedy” last year, Gillepie said the plane would not be hidden in the sand but buried on coral chippings.
“I understand the desire to find Amelia’s Earhart’s plane. God knows we have tried,” he said. “But the data, the facts do not support the hypothesis. It’s that simple.”
Earhart was the first woman flying Solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
Amelia Earhart from its Lockheed Vega 5b side from its solo Atlantic flight. (Purdue University Library)
Trailblazer has worked for Purdue, working as a women’s career advisor and adviser to his Aeronautics Engineering Division since 1935. Until her disappearance in 1937, according to the University’s website.
Schultz, the Purdue general advisor, said the Earhart plan was to return the plane to a school after the flight to study future aeronautical engineers and aviation students.
The Purdue Research Foundation provided the first phase of the expedition to the $ 500,000 credit line, Schultz said.
He said the Explorers team would need Nikumaror to come to Nikumaror in November. Then on the island they will have another five days to find the item in the sand and identify it as a missing plane.
“If we hope we solve a secret and confirm that it is, then there will be even more effort to bring back a permanent home,” Schultz said.
This article was originally published in nbcnews.com