Amelia Earhart's Airplane May Finally Have Been Found (jalopnik.com) 34
An anonymous reader shared this report from Jalopnik:
On July 2, the 88th anniversary of famed aviator Amelia Earhart's disappearance, Purdue University announced an expedition [which will launch in November] to confirm whether or not the wreckage of her plane has been found.
Satellite imagery from a decade ago indicated the presence of something that sure looks plane-like under the waters of Nikumaroro Island, an uninhabited spit of land in the middle of the Pacific Ocean that just happens to be near Earhart's intended flightpath...
This isn't the first time Earhart investigators have been to Nikumaroro. Human bones were recovered from the island previously, which scientists determined with 99% confidence to belong to the beloved pilot, per the university's student newspaper the Purdue Exponent. The investigators also found some women's beauty products from the 1930s. If that is indeed where Earhart died, it stands to reason that her Lockheed Electra 10E, nicknamed the Flying Laboratory, wouldn't be far away. Since nobody noticed any aircraft wreckage on the island (which isn't very big), it would probably be under the water.
Recovering such a legendary airplane will be a multi-stage process spanning years. This expedition, which will embark in November, is only planning to verify what's actually there, not retrieve anything. Recent satellite imagery doesn't show the object anymore, meaning it might have become buried; in fact, it was only ever visible in 2015, right after a cyclone blew threw and shifted a bunch of sand, as NBC News reports. The team will start with non-invasive procedures, such as sonar and magnetometers, before drilling through the silt with a hydroglobe to make physical contact with the object. Lastly, they will use a suction dredge to pull off loose sediment. If they're lucky, that will be sufficient to actually see part of the Lockheed Electra.
Satellite imagery from a decade ago indicated the presence of something that sure looks plane-like under the waters of Nikumaroro Island, an uninhabited spit of land in the middle of the Pacific Ocean that just happens to be near Earhart's intended flightpath...
This isn't the first time Earhart investigators have been to Nikumaroro. Human bones were recovered from the island previously, which scientists determined with 99% confidence to belong to the beloved pilot, per the university's student newspaper the Purdue Exponent. The investigators also found some women's beauty products from the 1930s. If that is indeed where Earhart died, it stands to reason that her Lockheed Electra 10E, nicknamed the Flying Laboratory, wouldn't be far away. Since nobody noticed any aircraft wreckage on the island (which isn't very big), it would probably be under the water.
Recovering such a legendary airplane will be a multi-stage process spanning years. This expedition, which will embark in November, is only planning to verify what's actually there, not retrieve anything. Recent satellite imagery doesn't show the object anymore, meaning it might have become buried; in fact, it was only ever visible in 2015, right after a cyclone blew threw and shifted a bunch of sand, as NBC News reports. The team will start with non-invasive procedures, such as sonar and magnetometers, before drilling through the silt with a hydroglobe to make physical contact with the object. Lastly, they will use a suction dredge to pull off loose sediment. If they're lucky, that will be sufficient to actually see part of the Lockheed Electra.
that's all well and good (Score:2, Interesting)
This begs the question (Score:2)
Re: This begs the question (Score:5, Informative)
Paid for by who?
Stuff like this needs donors and grants to be gathered. Funding for stuff like this doesnt just fall from trees.
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Also, although the satellite imagery is from 2015, apparently the "Taraia Object" wasn't found until 2020.
https://www.archaeologychannel... [archaeologychannel.org]
https://www.jconline.com/story... [jconline.com]
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Whoops. Intended to reply to a different post.
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True, in a better world the US recovers this as an American cultural artifact. Unironic "it belongs in a museum".
Re: This begs the question (Score:5, Funny)
Because we already know that she was kidnapped by aliens, as documented in Star Trek Voyager.
Through (Score:4, Informative)
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The cyclone blew THROUGH the area.
Yes. That is trew.
We've heard this SO MANY times before... (Score:1, Informative)
Every few years, someone claims to have "probably" found Amelia Earheart's airplane. In the end, it never pans out... but, in the meantime, that someone manages to keep themselves in the news for a little while.
Wake me when they've actually confirmed the find.
Re: We've heard this SO MANY times before... (Score:3)
Re:We've heard this SO MANY times before... (Score:4, Informative)
That someone is a group called TIGHAR. News outlets don't treat them with the level of skepticism they deserve because it isn't easy to see what would motivate this group to mislead. TIGHAR only seeks to achieve fame by "finding Amelia", and the funding that comes with promises to do so and any clues they claim to have found is a nice bonus. The trouble is that they're quite willing to bend the truth to get there.
The theory that Earhart ended up anywhere near Nikumaroro is implausible:
https://skeptoid.com/blog/2016... [skeptoid.com]
https://skeptoid.com/episodes/... [skeptoid.com]
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Maybe they'll find life on Mars and the Lochness Monster while there.
Drilling with a hydroglobe? (Score:2)
Fascinating!! (Score:2, Informative)
Don't get me wrong, this is all REALLY, REALLY fascinating and all......but.....uh.....who gives a fuck?
Re:Fascinating!! (Score:4, Interesting)
Don't get me wrong, this is all REALLY, REALLY fascinating and all......but.....uh.....who gives a fuck?
Clearly someone gives lots of fucks if there is money being spent to look for and find this thing. Would it make it more relevant and exciting for you if I somehow said it was Biden's fault? This story here is orders of magnitude more interesting than the endless fucking politics here.
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God forbid /. have anything but FOSS stuff and breathless takes about the new AI tool that will do something it won't actually do, in the end.
It's a fascinating confirmation of history; it is heavy evidence against many conspiracy theories that arose around her disappearance, suggesting what a reasonable person might have already guessed (flying a small plane of the time period across a very large ocean is dangerous). Much like scientific studies that confirm what "everybody already knew", nailing something
Re:Fascinating!! (Score:4, Insightful)
It's an interesting and long standing mystery. If they can find the aircraft it will help complete the picture of what happened to one of the world's most famous aviators.
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Is the bones claim true? (Score:1)
If this claim is true, then they have almost certainly found the right island.
But is it true ?
Re:Is the bones claim true? (Score:4, Informative)
It wasn't a 99% DNA match, it was a claim based on MEASURING THE BONES.
Gameboyrmh's link has the debunking: the bones were probably male.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352409X15300109
Re:Is the bones claim true? (Score:4, Informative)
And here's an article from a subsequent analysis 3 years after the article you cite, debunking the debunking and confirming that they are both female and most likely Earnhart's: https://journals.upress.ufl.ed... [ufl.edu]
Extraordinary claims (Score:2)
They've been crying wolf so many times.
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
It's pathetic that news outlets just go with it. The headline should have a bunch of questions marks, not full stops.
Look, WW II happened (Score:2)