Amelia Earhart Update: TIGHAR Claims She and Noonan Landed on Pacific Island

[JamesG]

New Evidence Uncovered About the Fate of Amelia Earhart
9/14/16


The disappearance of Amelia Earhart during an attempt to fly around the world in 1937 has long been an unsolved mystery.

Now, an organization called The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) claims that, instead of dying in a crash as some had thought, she and flight navigator Fred Noonan likely ended up as castaways on an island in the Pacific.



According to its website, TIGHAR believes that the plane landed safely around Gardner Island, and the duo sent distress calls for several days afterward.

The group points to evidence of more than 100 of these calls made between July 2 and 6, notes the Huffington Post.



During this time, Earhart and Noonan, if he survived, are believed to have subsisted on rainwater and local wildlife like turtles and fish.

TIGHAR's website states that, eventually, "Amelia died at a makeshift campsite on the island's southeast end. Noonan's fate is unknown."



Meanwhile, the plane, named Electra, is believed to lie "in deep water off the island's west end."

The group plans to conduct a search for the aircraft in the near future.

http://www.aol.com/article/news/2016...hart/21471890/
https://tighar.org/Projects/Earhart/AEdescr1.html

[zack007attack]

I often considered the possibility that Earhart and Noonan could have perished in the crash. Even though they had survival equipment onboard they might not have made it in time to use it. Based on the fact that they had been airborne for around 18 hours, they certainly would have been quite exhausted and if they crashed, their fatigue might have inhibited them from being able to take survival action in time to abandon the plane and utilize their life rafts while awaiting rescue.

On the flip side, as their plane went down, they still could have had a chance at survival, if the crash could have briefly nullified their fatigue and given them a boost of energy to take action in time to save their lives.

[plmkr88]

guess we'll wait to see if the plane turns up on that search. why do they need to wait to search though? just do it already and that way we know.

[spark30]

Don't they come out with a super similar theory every 1-2 years? Just to continue to get funding for their "research" :/

[ScaryFog]

Originally Posted by spark30

Don't they come out with a super similar theory every 1-2 years? Just to continue to get funding for their "research" :/

That's what it seems like to me.

[Awsi Dooger]

Originally Posted by spark30

Don't they come out with a super similar theory every 1-2 years? Just to continue to get funding for their "research" :/

Hey, you stole my post, although I was going to say every 3-4 years.

Future historians will note a definitive break in Earth eras when there was an Amelia Earhart theory that didn't involve Ric Gillespie.

[Corkys-Place]

I think this story fits into the "Cases that will never be solved" basket.

[Todd Mueller]

I think they have found some decent evidence over the years (like the piece of airplane sheet metal). However, they are far from claiming this as "solved." I love that press conference back in the 80s or 90s when he basically said "We have found the proof of what happened to Amelia Earhart."

Not quite.

Originally Posted by spark30

Don't they come out with a super similar theory every 1-2 years? Just to continue to get funding for their "research" :/

THIS ^^^^

I keep waiting for them to say "We have new proof! We found a Nokia flip phone and an empty bottle of Pepsi Clear on the island, which proves they were there. Obviously she would have called for help but the phone ran out of juice, and she nursed the Pepsi Clear until it was gone..."

[Cori aka ChrisSCrush]

The supposed skeleton has been lost and apparently not even photographs exist, but measurement comparisons are interesting. https://tighar.org/Projects/Earhart/...rhartArms.html

[Cori aka ChrisSCrush]

So now the skeleton has suddenly turned up?

https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/15/us/am...7zCSrImUe-hXPw

Plane, apparently, has not.

https://www.livescience.com/robert-b...art-plane.html

[Todd Mueller]

Originally Posted by Cori aka ChrisSCrush

So now the skeleton has suddenly turned up?

https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/15/us/am...7zCSrImUe-hXPw

Plane, apparently, has not.

https://www.livescience.com/robert-b...art-plane.html

Thanks for posting this. I have little doubt that these remains will not be AE. I'm positive she and Fred crashed in the ocean after getting lost and running out of fuel.

[Cori aka ChrisSCrush]

The National Geographic program was on tonight, I stayed awake during some of it, but unfortunately fell asleep before the end. Did anyone see it?

This search committee says she was not on Nikomuroru but Howland Island, not crashed in deep water but partially submerged in shallow water. When the tides were low and she was able to spin the propellers, she made radio transmissions which were picked up by too many people and too consistent in what they said for witnesses to have been making this up. Now maybe Japanese forces heard this stuff and trucked on over and got her...don't know. She seems to have left a zipper, part of a shoe, a jar of freckle cream, and some makeup on the island...explain how such items of that exact era got there if not by her! They found a tree where someone died at some point but no human remains, just cadaver dogs indicate on that tree and nowhere else. But they don't know whether the deceased is Amelia Earhart, Fred Noonan, or someone else. Radio transmissions indicated Fred was injured or in some distress.

[jbjr56]

TIGHAR also believed AE remains were consumed and bones were carried off by Giant Coconut crabs on the Island mentioned here - Nikomuroru. I think they had that theory for awhile but I just read the National Geographic a couple of months ago.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/c...-earhart-fate/

[XCalibur]

I think Amelia Earhart missed Howland Island by about 10-15 miles to the south due to a faulty compass and inexperience with her radio, but she thought she missed it to the north. She turned south to try to hit it, and that's how she wound up near the Phoenix Islands to the south. She and Fred ditched the plane in the water a few miles north of Garner Island, swam for the shore. The air search did not find them because they had not yet made it to the island when the planes flew overhead, they were still in the life preservers heading for there. By the time they made it, the island had already been looked at by air and they did not return, and they died there waiting rescue.

I never believed the Saipan story, they were known to be in the vicinity of Howland at the last transmission. No way they could have made it that far, and I don't see a strong enough motive for the military to cover something like that up.

Also, I've often wondered why they picked Howland Island in the first place. Finding it was extremely difficult in 1937 not only because it was tiny but the lack of other islands which could have served as reference points right near it. There were larger targets in the Pacific Ocean they would have had an easier time finding. Just my two cents though, haven't researched it enough to know for sure why they picked it.

[Labonte18]

Originally Posted by XCalibur

I think Amelia Earhart missed Howland Island by about 10-15 miles to the south due to a faulty compass and inexperience with her radio, but she thought she missed it to the north. She turned south to try to hit it, and that's how she wound up near the Phoenix Islands to the south. She and Fred ditched the plane in the water a few miles north of Garner Island, swam for the shore. The air search did not find them because they had not yet made it to the island when the planes flew overhead, they were still in the life preservers heading for there. By the time they made it, the island had already been looked at by air and they did not return, and they died there waiting rescue.

I never believed the Saipan story, they were known to be in the vicinity of Howland at the last transmission. No way they could have made it that far, and I don't see a strong enough motive for the military to cover something like that up.

Also, I've often wondered why they picked Howland Island in the first place. Finding it was extremely difficult in 1937 not only because it was tiny but the lack of other islands which could have served as reference points right near it. There were larger targets in the Pacific Ocean they would have had an easier time finding. Just my two cents though, haven't researched it enough to know for sure why they picked it.

The Nikomauraro theory has always fascinated me since the first time I saw the story on UM. I think it's the best of the rest of the theories, after "Crashed and sank" which is without question the most likely scenario.

I absolutely despise TIGHAR and how they go about things.

I also have little doubt the bones will not be those of Earhardt.

There's serious question about whether they could have made it to Nikomauraro as well. That is 400 miles southeast of Howland. Saipan is literally impossible based on the fact that they heard transmissions that were very strong at Howland, meaning she was close to it.