Group finds no conclusive evidence in search for Amelia Earhart

[snopes]

A group seeking clues to the fate of famed aviator Amelia Earhart is ending its latest search of a remote South Pacific island with some new evidence but without a conclusive "smoking gun."

http://www.azcentral.com/offbeat/art...ch0802-ON.html

[Silas Sparkhammer]

Some years ago -- maybe eight years? ("Years to th' memory!") -- there was a tv science and education show (the name of which I also do not remember) where a guy had found a piece of metal on a lonely Pacific atoll, and said that the pattern of rivet holes exactly matched spec drawings (which he showed) for the hull of the plane A.E. was flying.

Seemed to me that this, if true, would have been fairly conclusive. Has it been bunked, debunked, or slid into the (very large) middle drawer?

Silas

[Ali Infree]

Silas:

This is the same group. They spent time trying to determine a probable path for Earhart and Noonan and settled on that island as a likely landing spot. IRC the thought is that they ran out of fuel and landed on the island, but that the plane probably soon slipped underwater. As the article says, human bones were discovered in 1940. I wonder if they have considered DNA testing?

I would be more convinced if they had found her luggage, or if they find plane parts. It is amazing how remote this location is.

Ali Infree

If you go to the http://www.tighar.org/ website you can read all about the most recent expedition, including day by day accounts and the mountains of evidence they have.

Unfortunately the bones which were found have since been lost so they can't do any testing.

[ganzfeld]

Originally Posted by Erin

If you go to the http://www.tighar.org/ website you can read all about the most recent expedition, including day by day accounts and the mountains of evidence they have.

A few months ago, I read all of the evidence on their site. I think they are being plenty cautious and the weight of the evidence seems to indicate they have the right spot. I'm not sure they have the details of their living as castaways correct but I'm pretty convinced they have the right place and general outline correct.

[Meka]

Originally Posted by Silas Sparkhammer

Some years ago -- maybe eight years? ("Years to th' memory!") -- there was a tv science and education show (the name of which I also do not remember) where a guy had found a piece of metal on a lonely Pacific atoll, and said that the pattern of rivet holes exactly matched spec drawings (which he showed) for the hull of the plane A.E. was flying.

Seemed to me that this, if true, would have been fairly conclusive. Has it been bunked, debunked, or slid into the (very large) middle drawer?

Silas

I recall seeing a similar program about the metal panel. However, I also recall seeing someone take a template of the rivet pattern and going over every inch of a Lockheed Electra, noting that it didn't match anywhere. On the other other hand, it was also suggested that this might have been due to the field repairs they were forced to make after the accident on their initial attempt in Hawaii (or was that California?).

[quiltsbypam]

Originally Posted by Ali Infree

Silas:

This is the same group. They spent time trying to determine a probable path for Earhart and Noonan and settled on that island as a likely landing spot. IRC the thought is that they ran out of fuel and landed on the island, but that the plane probably soon slipped underwater. As the article says, human bones were discovered in 1940. I wonder if they have considered DNA testing?

I would be more convinced if they had found her luggage, or if they find plane parts. It is amazing how remote this location is.

Ali Infree

I'm not convinced the technology exists to actually find lost luggage.

[Ali Infree]

Okay, do you own any Amelia Earhart luggage? Do you know where it is right now?

It's a very bad joke A friend of mine took note of the brand name a long while ago (the Amelia Earhart luggage line was established during her lifetime, but it is hard not to note the incongruity. Sort of like having HMS Titanic life boats, Pinto fire extinguishers, or a Paris Hilton drunk driving interlock device.



Ali "thank you, I'm here all week..." Infree

[DrRocket]

Originally Posted by Meka

I recall seeing a similar program about the metal panel. However, I also recall seeing someone take a template of the rivet pattern and going over every inch of a Lockheed Electra, noting that it didn't match anywhere. On the other other hand, it was also suggested that this might have been due to the field repairs they were forced to make after the accident on their initial attempt in Hawaii (or was that California?).

It seemed to me, the metal panel was a map container that wasn't from a Lockheed.

Mention of it here.

Anther piece I read on the subject noted the map case was from another make of aircraft, but it was also noted that it was known that the Vega had been modified for the trip at the last minute by that manufacturer.

[lord_feldon]

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/1...a-earhart.html

Legendary aviatrix Amelia Earhart mostly likely died on an uninhabited tropical island in the southwestern Pacific republic of Kiribati, according to researchers at The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR).

[Lainie]

Whatever happened, Earhart and Noonan likely died very unpleasant deaths. If they didn't end up on that atoll, then they probably crashed into the Atlantic after running out of fuel -- and one can only hope they were dead before the sharks got to them.

Or the giant crabs.

[katikate]

And now whenever I hear of people being stranded on an island, I think of the story "survivor" by Stephen King.

Thank you, vivid imagination.

But yes, horrible deaths. Which then makes me wonder-if one of them died first, did the other one eat them?

[Syllavus]

It makes me think of that story too katikate. Ugh.

Trying to look at the situation from a purely unemotional standpoint, I think it's probably unlikely that the one who died first was eaten by the other for some practical reasons. With the high temperatures, decomposition would probably have set in very quickly, and there would have been no means of preserving the meat. The people who crashed in the Andes and had to reserve to cannibalism to survive had the benefit of cold temperatures that allowed the meat to be preserved and dried for consumption. They may have had the means to build a fire which would have allowed for at least some meat to have been cooked and eaten right away, but I still think that the chances are slim. If both survived the wreck, then by the time the first one succumbed, the other probably wasn't in very good physical condition either, and cutting and obtaining the meat probably wouldn't have been easy. If one didn't survive the wreck, the other probably wouldn't have been at a point yet where cannibalism was something they were considering.

Still a horrible way to go, even if cannibalism never happened, I can't imagine how long the days must have been.

[lord_feldon]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ic-island.html

A tiny bone found on a tropical island could finally solve the riddle of what happened to aviator Amelia Earhart.

Researchers found the fragment - which is believed to come from a finger - alongside pieces of a pocket knife, pre-war American bottles and makeup from a woman's compact.

The remains of small fires as well as bird and fish bones and empty oyster shells laid in rows as if to catch water were also recovered.

[Ryda Wong, EBfCo.]

I actually watched the documentary about this group the other night. It was quite interesting, and they have managed to amass quite a bit of evidence that might suggest their theory is true.

however, they've yet to find anything that proves their theory.

[snopes]

The fate of famed aviator Amelia Earhart remains a mystery. The latest expedition failed to find the wreckage of the plane she was flying when she went missing 75 years ago.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/n...,4440117.story

[ganzfeld]

Originally Posted by Ryda Wong, EBfCo.

It was quite interesting, and they have managed to amass quite a bit of evidence that might suggest their theory is true.

What they've done is decided what they think the answer is and tried to prove that. They see every little thing as "possible evidence" for their own hypothesis but there's no way to compare that to others which would generate just as much evidence and there are very reasonable theories (for example, the one in which she and Noonan ditched in the sea and never were on land) that would generate almost no evidence. I think at this point they're just confirming their own bias.

[jimmy101_again]

This just in... Amelia Earhart is still dead.

(sorry, channeling a very very very old SNL gag.)