Legendary Female Pilot Missing for 87 Years... Could Clues to the Case Be Found?

July 1937 World Tour Flight Attempt Ends in Disappearance
Despite Extensive Search, Not Even Aircraft Debris Found

The legendary pilot Amelia Earhart, the first female aviator to successfully cross the Atlantic Ocean, is believed to have had the wreckage of the plane she was flying at the time of her disappearance discovered. This comes 87 years after the disappearance incident.

On the 30th (local time), according to foreign media including CNN, the marine exploration company 'Deep Sea Vision' investigation team announced via social media on the 27th that they had discovered an object presumed to be the Lockheed 10-E Electra, the plane Earhart was flying when she disappeared, at a depth of 4,877 meters in the Pacific Ocean. The wreckage was found about 161 km from Howland Island, a U.S. territory near the equator in the central Pacific, which was Earhart's planned stopover before her disappearance.

The investigation team used an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) equipped with sonar detection equipment to explore seabed terrain covering 13,468 square kilometers from September to December last year. They plan to conduct another exploration within a year using a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) equipped with cameras for further verification and intend to attempt salvage if possible.

Tony Romero, CEO of Deep Sea Vision, stated, "Earhart's disappearance is one of the greatest mysteries of all time," and added, "This discovery gives us an opportunity to get closer to the truth of the disappearance incident."

Amelia Earhart, who disappeared in 1937.
[Image source=AFP Yonhap News]

Dorothy Cochran, curator at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in the United States, commented on the fact that the underwater object found by the investigation team was not far from Howland Island, saying, "Considering that Earhart's last radio signal strengthened as she approached Howland Island, it is possible that Earhart crashed near Howland Island."

However, some experts remain skeptical about this discovery. Andrew Pietrowicz, an underwater archaeologist at the University of California, San Diego, said, "This could be a plane, even Earhart's plane, but it is too early to conclude," adding, "It could be noise in the detection data or another aircraft."

David Jordan, president of the deep-sea exploration company Nauticos, also pointed out that the object discovered by the investigation team does not show the twin-engine features characteristic of the Lockheed Electra that Earhart piloted. He emphasized, "Because the acoustics are complex and the plane's shape may have been deformed after the crash, it is impossible to confirm anything based solely on sound and images."

Earhart was known as the first woman to successfully fly across the Atlantic Ocean. In 1937, she attempted a round-the-world flight along the equatorial route but disappeared after her last communication on July 2 of the same year, stating she was heading to Howland Island for refueling. At that time, the U.S. government conducted a massive 16-day search operation in the South Pacific area but failed to uncover her whereabouts. This led to various speculations, including theories that she crashed in the Marshall Islands and was held hostage on Saipan Island, or that she deliberately staged her disappearance and lived under another identity.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.