Amelia Earhart’s Disappearance

Amelia Earhart, a pioneering female pilot, disappeared 88 years ago during a world flight attempt with her navigator, Fred Noonan. Known for breaking gender norms, Earhart was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. On June 1, 1937, she began a 29,000-mile journey but vanished after a failed attempt to fly from New Guinea to Howland Island. “The US Coast Guard was helping them find the island… but they were unable to see it and vanished from sight.”

Possible Cause of the Crash

Experts believe Noonan miscalculated navigation, possibly due to not accounting for the International Date Line. This error may have led them about 400 miles off target. Earhart’s last radio calls were “frantic radio appeals for assistance, 70 miles off the coast of Gardner Island.” Despite many theories, no one has definitively solved the mystery—until now.

Discovery of Earhart’s Plane

A 2015 satellite image showed a shape resembling Earhart’s Lockheed Electra plane on Nikumaroro Island in Kiribati, nearly 1,000 miles from Fiji. Purdue University, which funded Earhart’s flight, is planning an expedition to search for the plane.

Steve Schultz from Purdue said, “We believe we owe it to Amelia and her legacy… to bring the Electra back.” Archaeologist Richard Pettigrew said, “What we have here is maybe the greatest opportunity ever to finally close the case,” citing matching dimensions, location, and American-made artifacts found nearby.