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After 75 Years, the Amelia Earhart Search Begins Anew

Seventy-five years later, the search for Amelia Earhart gets a fresh start.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of Amelia Earhart's disappearance. The celebrated aviatrix and her navigator Fred Noonan were on a mission to fly around the world's equator when those tracking their progressed lost communications. The subsequent $4 million investigation lasted 17 days but found no evidence of their fate.

Now, the search is back on. With support from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the US State Department, and the Discovery Channel, the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) is using new technology to take another stab at solving an old mystery.

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Earhart gained fame for pushing the limits of aviation when it was a field largely dominated by men. She was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic — Charles Lindbergh was the first to complete the flight in 1927 — as well as the first person to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean, and set many records for high altitude flights. In the mid 1930s, she settled on one final big flight for her career: the flight around the world at its equator. She and Noonan would be alone in her Lockheed Electra throughout the 29,000 mile journey that would take weeks. It was Earhart's second attempt at the flight. The first, which began on St. Patrick's Day 1937, was cancelled after mechanical problems and a crash during takeoff left the airplane in need of repairs.

On June 1, 1937, just two months before her fortieth birthday, Earhart and Noonan took off from Miami, Florida, for the second attempt at the circumnavigational flight. By June 29, they were in Lae, Papau New Guinea, and had just 7,000 miles left of their journey. The last leg of the trip took them over the Pacific Ocean with short hops between islands. First stop was Howland Island, a tiny spot between Papau New Guinea and Hawaii. Throughout the leg, the US Coast Guard was to be in radio contact to help Earhart along her way.

The plane took off on July 2. Though skies in Lae were clear, it wasn't long before Earhart and Noonan were flying through clouds and rain. The weather took its toll on the plane's radio communications, and the heavy cloud rendered Noonan's navigational jobs nearly impossible, as he relied heavily on sight and celestial markers. USCG Itasca and the station on Howland Island managed only fractured communications with Earhart. “Fuel is running low. Been unable to reach you by radio. We are flying at 1,000 feet,” she called at 7:42 that morning. Itasca tried to reply but the messages weren't getting through. At 8:45 Earhart reported, “We are running north and south.” That was the last anyone heard from the pilot.

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It's generally believed that Earhart ran out of fuel and crashed into the ocean. But there's another possible scenario. Navigation was notoriously difficult in the 1930s, and its likely Earhart wasn't flying in exactly the right direction. Her final radio calls were heard on Gardner Island (also known as Nikumaroro). It's possible Earhart made an emergency landing on this flat coral reef, which is about 300 miles southeast of Howland.

Hoping this was the case, the US Navy searched the area extensively during its search in 1937. But this search relied on visual location from the air. It's unlikely two people could have been seen on an island 4 miles long and a little over one mile wide. British survey parties arrived on the island in 1938, by which time Earhart and Noonan would likely have succumbed to injury, starvation, or disease.

There's more evidence to support this castaway theory than just the rough location of the last radio transmissions. Archival reports from a 1940 expedition to the island mention finding a female skeleton. Forensic analysis of an image of the Island's shoreline taken three months after the disappearance shows an object protruding from the water on the fringing reef that looks much like the landing gear of a Lockheed Electra. In the 1990s and 2000s, TIGHAR sponsored expeditions to the island and found a broken cosmetics jar, rouge, buttons, parts of a pocket knife, and fabric, all possible artifacts from Earhart's last days or weeks as a castaway.

TIGHAR's upcoming search will use better technology and focus on finding fragments of Earhart’s plane. It will be an underwater search carried by Phoenix International, the U.S. Navy’s primary deep ocean search and recovery contractor. Multi-beam sonar will map the seafloor in the area, allowing the team to prioritize search areas. Interesting targets will be imaged with a side scan sonar mounted on an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle and a Remote Operated Vehicle with dual manipulators and color video camera.

The US State Department says the new investigation will underscore the American spirit of adventure while furthering cooperation with the Asia-Pacific region. A more human take is that the investigation could turn up striking evidence on the famous mystery. What ever happens, the search is sure to capsule imaginations. Everyone knowns Earhart's story, and more pieces of the puzzle will only make it more fascinating.

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