Wreckage of plane that vanished over Pacific Ocean in 1937 found
Technology
Earhart, the American aviator, and her navigator Fred Noonan disappeared
(Web Desk) - In a big development that could finally shed light on one of aviation's greatest mysteries, Deep Sea Vision (DSV), a deep-sea exploration company, has announced the discovery of what could be the remains of Amelia Earhart's aircraft.
Earhart, the American aviatrix, and her navigator Fred Noonan disappeared over the Pacific Ocean in 1937 during their ambitious attempt to circumnavigate the globe.
The sonar image, which was captured by DSV's unmanned submersible at a depth of 16,000 feet in the Pacific, displays features resembling the unique structure of Earhart's Lockheed Electra.
The area explored lies west of Howland Island, where Earhart was headed before she vanished.
Tony Romeo, DSV's chief executive, expressed optimism about the find, suggesting that the contours visible in the image are consistent with the aircraft having been landed gently on the ocean's surface.
This latest search covered an impressive 5,200 square miles of the ocean floor, surpassing the combined efforts of all previous explorations.
The exact coordinates of the potential wreckage remain confidential as DSV plans additional missions to the site.
The discovery aligns with the "Date Line theory," proposed by former Nasa employee Liz Smith in 2010.
This hypothesis suggests that a navigational error occurred when Noonan failed to account for the International Date Line, leading to a 60-mile deviation from their intended course
Earhart's quest for global flight began on May 20, 1937, from Oakland, California. She aimed to etch her name in history as the first woman to fly around the world.
Earhart became the first woman and second person ever to fly solo and nonstop across the Atlantic in 1932, five years after Charles Lindbergh accomplished the feat.
Along with navigator Fred Noonan, she was attempting to fly around the world when their plane went missing over the Pacific. If she succeeded, she would have become the first female pilot to do so.
The journey ended in mystery when she and Noonan disappeared after departing from Lae, Papua New Guinea, for Howland Island on July 2, 1937.
