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DISCOVERIES

Experts believe they have found parts of Amelia Earhart’s plane

For nearly 90 years researchers have been trying to solve the mystery of what happened to Amelia Earhart’s plane. A new find may have solved the puzzle.

Amelia Earhart's plane believe found in depths of Pacific

Pilot Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan set off from Oakland, California on 21 May 1937 taking to the sky in a twin-engine Lockheed 10-E Electra. The goal was for Earhart to become the first woman to fly around the world.

However, with just 7,000 miles to go, after completing more than three-quarters of the journey, the duo went missing when they failed to reach Howland Island in middle of the Pacific Ocean. For nearly 90 years, investigators have been searching for answers to what happened to Earhart, Noonan and the plane. A private exploration company, Deep Sea Vision, has announced that it believes it may have found the wreckage of Earhart’s plane.

Experts believe they have found Amelia Earhart’s plane parts

Beginning in September 2023, a 16-member crew of underwater archaeologists and marine robotics experts using an advanced autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) searched over 5,200 square miles of seafloor over a 100-day period. Tony Romeo, a former US Air Force intelligence officer and chief executive of Deep Sea Vision says that the AUV obtained blurry sonar images of an airplane-shaped object deep underwater.

The anomaly is around 16,400 feet beneath the surface on the flat, sandy ocean bottom some 100 miles from Howland Island, which itself is about halfway between Australia and Hawaii. Romeo told CNN that he hopes to return to the site within the year to gather more detailed evidence that it is Earhart’s missing plane.

This will most likely require the use of a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) equipped with a camera. Were the object detected to turn out to be a plane, confirmation that it was the one flown by Earhart could be ascertained by locating the certification number “NR16020″ printed on the underside of the wing.

Due to the extreme depth of where the anomaly is located, there is hope that if it is the wreckage of a plane, that it would be well preserved. That would be thanks to the extreme cold of the water and low oxygen levels at such depths.

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