An $11 Million Search For Amelia Earhart’s Missing Plane Could Finally Solve Her Fate

One of the greatest mysteries in aviation history may finally be on the verge of being solved. After Amelia Earhart was officially declared deceased on January 5, 1939, with the belief that her plane had run out of fuel and crashed into the vast ocean, the unanswered questions about what happened after the alleged crash remained unresolved, until now.

For nearly a hundred years, the disappearance of the legendary American aviator has captivated people’s attention worldwide. Numerous theories have emerged online to unravel the truth behind her disappearance.

The mysterious disappearance of Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan

According to Britannica, Amelia Earhart and Fred started their transcontinental flight from Oakland, California, on June 1, 1937. They were flying in a twin-engine Lockheed Electra plane, heading eastward.

After flying 22,000 miles in less than a month, they arrived in Lae, New Guinea, with 7,000 more miles left to reach their final destination of Oakland. Then, they had to fly another 2,500 miles before they reached their next stop, Howland Island, an incredibly small island in the Pacific Ocean, to refuel.

Unfortunately, overcast skies, radio transmission issues, and low fuel prevented Amelia and Fred from reaching Howland Island as planned.

Despite extreme efforts to locate the plane, the search for Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan turned out to be the most expensive air and sea search in American history at that time. Unfortunately, their bodies were never found.

Due to the mystery of their disappearance, numerous theories emerged and continue to be debated to this day. One theory suggests that Amelia may have been operating as a secret agent for the US government and was captured by the Japanese while attempting to gather intelligence on their occupied islands, Britannica states.

Another widely accepted theory is that the duo ended up on a deserted island called Nikumaroro. This theory gains support from the discovery of artifacts such as tools and aircraft wreckage found on the island. However, no theory has ultimately been proven true.

A hunt for Amelia Earhart’s plane conducted

Founder Deep Sea Vision Tony Romeo, a pilot and former U.S. Air Force intelligence officer, made a significant decision in 2022. He sold his real estate company and used the proceeds, around $11 million, to start and fund the ocean exploration. He wanted to dive into ocean exploration and hopefully uncover clues about Amelia Earhart’s disappearance.

On January 27th, 2024, Tony made a surprising announcement. His company’s recent expedition captured a sonar image that they believe could be Amelia Earhart’s missing Lockheed Electra. This revelation marks a pivotal moment in their quest for answers.

Taking to its Instagram page, the underwater exploration company wrote: “Deep Sea Vision found what appears to be Earhart’s Lockheed 10-E Electra.”

A dedicated team consisting of a 16-member crew and a cutting-edge drone played a crucial role in the discovery. Between September and December, they extensively surveyed an area of the ocean floor spanning over 5,200 square miles.

Deep Sea Vision also used a $9 million underwater drone called the HUGIN 6000 AUV from Kongsberg to scope out the sea floor around Howland Island. This drone employed a state-of-the-art sonar technology known as synthetic aperture sonar (SAS), which can produce high-resolution images of the seafloor even at distances of up to 20,000 feet.

With the huge effort, the team spotted a plane-shaped object between Australia and Hawaii, about 100 miles off Howland Island. Howland Island was the intended refueling point for Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan, but they never reached their destination.

The image capturing the potential wreckage of Amelia Earhart’s plane isn’t a photo but a result of scanning the ocean floor with sound waves. Located around 100 miles off Howland Island, the area where Earhart and Fred Noonan vanished on July 2nd, 1937, the sonar image is blurry and unclear, and whatever the subject of the image lies deep underwater at 16,000 feet.

Identifying the object accurately is a huge challenge but Deep Sea Vision is planning a return trip to investigate further. While some are cautiously hopeful about this discovery, others prefer alternative theories to explain Earhart’s disappearance in 1937.

Tony Romeo said he was optimistic about what they found. He told NPR, “All that combined, you’d be hard-pressed to convince me that this is not an airplane and not Amelia’s plane.”

“This is maybe the most exciting thing I’ll ever do in my life…. I feel like a 10-year-old going on a treasure hunt” he claimed in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. “We always felt that a group of pilots were the ones that are going to solve this and not the mariners.”

The truth unveiled

The possibility of Amelia Earhart’s plane being lodged on the ocean floor supports the widely accepted theory that her aircraft ran out of fuel and sank into the water, as reported by NPR.

Tony said: “I like everything that everybody’s contributed to the story, I think it’s great.

“It’s added to the legacy of Amelia Earhart. But in the end, I think what’s important is that she was a really good pilot.”

Amelia has left an impressive legacy. In 1932, she achieved a monumental milestone by becoming the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic as a pilot. Her accomplishments were recognized with prestigious awards, including the American Distinguished Flying Cross and the Cross of the French Legion of Honor.

Additionally, in 1929, as a native of Kansas, she played a significant role in establishing the Ninety-Nines, an organization dedicated to female aviators that leaves a lasting impact on the field of aviation.

Fred Noonan, remembered as “Amelia Earhart’s navigator,” remains a somewhat enigmatic figure in history. Despite this, historical records show that Fred played a significant role in expanding air travel across the Pacific Ocean. He joined Pan American World Airways in the mid-1920s and is credited with pioneering westward flight routes from California to Manila for the company’s “Clipper” aircraft fleet.