Deep Sea Vision, an ocean exploration company based in South Carolina, claims that they may have found the plane wreckage of Amelia Earhart, an aviation pioneer who mysteriously and famously disappeared in 1937.
The Mysterious Case of Amelia Earhart
Amelia Earthart was the first female pilot to independently cross the Atlantic. In 1937, she also embarked on a journey as she tried to become the first female aviator to be able to circumnavigate the world on her Lockheed Electra aircraft. However, during the course of this aviation trip, Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan mysteriously disappeared as they were flying through the central Pacific Ocean. No traces were left behind.
After an intense 16-day search for the duo, they were declared lost at the sea.
Despite several attempts to find their plane wreckage and bodies in the last 86 or so years, these have not yet been uncovered. With this, Earhart's famous disappearance led to various conspiracy theories. Some speculations are justifiable, while others are bizarrely far-fetched.
One theory proposed that the duo crashed into the Marshall Islands and that they were taken and captured in Saipan Island, where they were held as hostages and eventually passed away. Another theory holds that both of them were able to survive a rough landing on a Pacific Ocean reef but that they later passed away as castaways. The most widely believed speculation is that they crashed into the Pacific Ocean, close to Howland Island, when their plane's fuel ran out.
Now, Deep Sea Vision claims that they may have finally found the wreckage.
Amelia Earhart's Plane Wreckage Found?
According to Deep Sea Vision, an underwater drone with a high-tech radar and a crew of 16 members was able to come across an object that is strikingly similar to the Lockheed Electra plane of Amelia Earhart. This was encountered around 100 miles off Howland Island and 16,000 feet below the surface. Howland Island is an area where the duo was supposed to refuel.
Some fuzzy shots were taken roughly 5,000 meters below the Pacific's surface. This was done through the side scan sonar of an underwater submersible that was unmanned. It was taken around 161 kilometers away from Howland Island.
The question, however, is whether the finding is really Earhart's plane. According to Dorothy Cochrane, a curator for the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, the location of the discovery does check out.
Experts also agree that this cannot be confirmed unless a first-hand look on the discovery is made. Considering the location of the wreckage, this feat will likely be difficult.
The exploration team of Deep Sea Vision spent around 90 days examining 13,500 square kilometers of the floor of the Pacific Ocean. For now, they are keeping the precise location confidential. The expedition of the company started in early September 2023 and wrapped up in December.
Romeo is hopeful that they will be able to go back to the site within a year in order to confirm that the odd anomaly is actually a plane. It is likely that this would involve ROV (remotely operated vehicle) use that has a camera. This will allow closer investigation of the object.
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