Current:Home > InvestAmelia Earhart's long-lost plane possibly detected by sonar 16,000 feet underwater, exploration team claims-Angel Dreamer Wealth Society D1 Reviews & Insights
Amelia Earhart's long-lost plane possibly detected by sonar 16,000 feet underwater, exploration team claims
View Date:2024-12-24 21:03:08
Amelia Earhart's disappearance over the central Pacific Ocean 87 years ago remains one of the greatest mysteries in aviation history. Countless theories about her fate have emerged in the decades since, but now a deep-sea exploration team searching for the wreckage of her small plane has provided another potential clue.
Deep Sea Vision, a Charleston, South Carolina-based team, said this week that it had captured a sonar image in the Pacific Ocean that "appears to be Earhart's Lockheed 10-E Electra" aircraft.
The company, which says it scanned over 5,200 square miles of the ocean floor starting in September, posted sonar images on social media that appear to show a plane-shaped object resting at the bottom of the sea. The 16-member team, which used a state-of-the-art underwater drone during the search, also released video of the expedition.
Tony Romeo, a pilot and former U.S. Air Force intelligence officer, told the Wall Street Journal that he funded the $11 million search by selling off his commercial real estate properties.
"This is maybe the most exciting thing I'll ever do in my life," he told the Journal. "I feel like a 10-year-old going on a treasure hunt."
Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared on July 2, 1937, while flying over the Pacific Ocean during Earhart's attempt to become the first female aviator to circle the globe. They vanished without a trace, spurring the largest and most expensive search and rescue effort by the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard in American history. Earhart and Noonan were declared dead two years later.
Multiple deep-sea searches using high-tech equipment have tried but failed over the years to find Earhart's plane.
Romeo told the Journal that his team's underwater "Hugin" submersible captured the sonar image of the aircraft-shaped object about 16,000 feet below the Pacific Ocean's surface less than 100 miles from Howland Island, where Earhart and Noonan were supposed to stop and refuel before they vanished.
Romeo's team didn't find the image until about three months into the trip, and at that stage it was impractical to turn back, he told the Journal, so they intend to return for a closer look.
Sonar experts told the Journal that only a closer look for details matching Earhart's Lockheed aircraft would provide definitive proof.
"Until you physically take a look at this, there's no way to say for sure what that is," underwater archaeologist Andrew Pietruszka told the newspaper.
There other theories about where Earhart may have vanished. Ric Gillespie, who has researched Earhart's doomed flight for decades, told CBS News in 2018 that he had proof Earhart crash-landed on Gardner Island — about 350 nautical miles from Howland Island — and that she called for help for nearly a week before her plane was swept out to sea.
Gillespie told CBS News the calls weren't just heard by the Navy, but also by dozens of people who unexpectedly picked up Earhart's transmissions on their radios thousands of miles away. Reports of people hearing calls for help were documented in places like Florida, Iowa and Texas. One woman in Canada reported hearing a voice saying "we have taken in water… We can't hold on much longer."
Gillespie's organization, the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, has also claimed that it found forensic evidence, including bones on the island, that were likely Earhart's.
Still, nearly 90 years later, no wreckage has ever been found, and Romeo thinks his team's sonar image may finally show the long-lost aircraft.
Romeo, who was joined on the expedition by two of his brothers who are also pilots, told the Journal that their aviation expertise provided a fresh perspective during the search.
"We always felt that a group of pilots were the ones that are going to solve this, and not the mariners," Romeo told the newspaper.
- In:
- Plane Crash
- Amelia Earhart
- Missing Person
Stephen Smith is a senior editor for CBSNews.com.
veryGood! (31676)
Related
- Lou Donaldson, jazz saxophonist who blended many influences, dead at 98
- These jobs saw the biggest pay hikes across the U.S. in 2023
- Brother of powerful Colombian senator pleads guilty in New York to narcotics smuggling charge
- Holiday week swatting incidents target and disrupt members of Congress
- Gisele Bündchen Makes First Major Appearance Since Pregnancy
- Dalvin Cook, Jets part ways. Which NFL team could most use him for its playoff run?
- Rescuers race against time in search for survivors in Japan after powerful quakes leave 62 dead
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr. qualifies for presidential ballot in Utah, the first state to grant him access
- 32-year-old Maryland woman dies after golf cart accident
- Ready to mark your calendar for 2024? Dates for holidays, events and games to plan ahead for
Ranking
- Question of a lifetime: Families prepare to confront 9/11 masterminds
- Horoscopes Today, January 1, 2024
- Live updates | Fighting rages in southern Gaza and fears grow the war may spread in the region
- 9 ways to get healthier in 2024 without trying very hard
- Brands Our Editors Are Thankful For in 2024
- Housing, climate change, assault weapons ban on agenda as Rhode Island lawmakers start new session
- Milwaukee police officer shot and wounded non-fatally during standoff
- Harvard president’s resignation highlights new conservative weapon against colleges: plagiarism
Recommendation
-
US inflation may have picked up in October after months of easing
-
Should I get paid for work drug testing? Can I be fired for my politics? Ask HR
-
FBI investigates deadly New Year's Day crash in Rochester, NY. What we know
-
Series of small explosions, no injuries reported after 1.7-magnitude quake in New York
-
Man Found Dead in Tanning Bed at Planet Fitness Gym After 3 Days
-
Prosecutors accuse Sen. Bob Menendez of introducing Qatari royal family member to aid NJ businessman
-
Who won Powerball? See winning numbers after Michigan player snags $842 million jackpot
-
Holiday week swatting incidents target and disrupt members of Congress