The mysterious disappearance of Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan continues to fascinate people as the search goes on to find the remains of the Lockheed Electra that took them on their final journey in 1937. There has never been a credible artifact recovered from the flight, though it hasn’t been for lack of trying. It’s been less than two years since The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (Tighar) failed in its efforts to find the missing airplane near the Pacific Island of Nikumaroro. This time, a different organization, Howland Landing Limited out of Carson City, Nevada, is preparing to launch Expedition Amelia, searching an area near Howland Island. And the company is giving you an opportunity to participate.
By donating money to the cause through Kickstarter.com, the group says you will receive daily updates on the progress of the expedition and a detailed look into the life and disappearance of Earhart. The information gathered during the expedition will be edited into a documentary. Expedition Amelia hopes to raise $2 million to fund the project, a figure the group must hit if it hopes to get any funding from the program.So even if the team fails in its proposed efforts to find the wreckage, participants might still have some fun.
The leader of the expedition, Dana Timmer, has been searching for Earhart’s airplane for 15 years. His team has used sonar equipment to search an area 18,000 feet below the water’s surface in hopes of finding the Electra. Analysis of the collected data by sonar experts from Williamson and Associates has identified several targets that he says are the approximate size of the Electra.
The effort is not an easy one, and industry insiders give it almost no chance of success..“The Earhart/Noonan Electra is 18,000 feet down in the vicinity of Howland Island and may even yield a range of artifacts that could rival the finds of the Titanic,” senior curator of the National Air and Space Museum Dr. Tom Crouch said.
View our Amelia Earhart photo gallery here.
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