Earhart Expedition Prepares for South Pacific Search

Team will use advanced technology in November quest for legendary aviator’s lost Lockheed Electra 10-E.

Meg Godlewski

Friday, October 24, 2025 at 12:18 PM ET

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Edited By:

Travis Tingle

Richard Pettigrew, executive director of the Archaeological Legacy Institute (ALI), sits in the cockpit of a Lockheed Electra similar to the one flown by Amelia Earhart at the Museum of Flight in Seattle. [Courtesy: Ted Huetter/Museum of Flight]

Key Takeaways:

A new expedition, led by Richard Pettigrew of the Archaeological Legacy Institute and including representatives from Purdue University, is launching in November to search for Amelia Earhart's lost Lockheed Electra 10-E.
The 15-person team will focus on Nikumaroro island, investigating the "Taraia Object"—a reflective, straight metallic object seen in imagery that Pettigrew believes may be part of Earhart's aircraft fuselage.
The expedition will use scientific equipment like magnetometers and sonar, along with underwater excavation, to identify the object and gather "smoking-gun proof" of Earhart's final resting place, with Purdue hoping to eventually return the plane to West Lafayette.

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Preparations are in the final stages for the latest expedition to the South Pacific to gain a closer look at what may be the Lockheed Electra 10-E flown by Amelia Earhart during her round-the-world flight attempt in 1937.

The expedition, which launches in November, is being led by Richard Pettigrew, executive director of the Archaeological Legacy Institute (ALI) in Eugene, Oregon. ALI is an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to archaeological research and education.