Feed: Slashdot
Feed Link: https://slashdot.org/
---

Title: Amelia Earhart's Airplane May Finally Have Been Found

Link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/07/13/0215...

An anonymous reader shared this report from Jalopnik: On July 2, the 88th
anniversary of famed aviator Amelia Earhart's disappearance, Purdue
University announced an expedition [which will launch in November] to confirm
whether or not the wreckage of her plane has been found. Satellite imagery
from a decade ago indicated the presence of something that sure looks plane-
like under the waters of Nikumaroro Island, an uninhabited spit of land in
the middle of the Pacific Ocean that just happens to be near Earhart's
intended flightpath... This isn't the first time Earhart investigators have
been to Nikumaroro. Human bones were recovered from the island previously,
which scientists determined with 99% confidence to belong to the beloved
pilot, per the university's student newspaper the Purdue Exponent. The
investigators also found some women's beauty products from the 1930s. If that
is indeed where Earhart died, it stands to reason that her Lockheed Electra
10E, nicknamed the Flying Laboratory, wouldn't be far away. Since nobody
noticed any aircraft wreckage on the island (which isn't very big), it would
probably be under the water. Recovering such a legendary airplane will be a
multi-stage process spanning years. This expedition, which will embark in
November, is only planning to verify what's actually there, not retrieve
anything. Recent satellite imagery doesn't show the object anymore, meaning
it might have become buried; in fact, it was only ever visible in 2015, right
after a cyclone blew threw and shifted a bunch of sand, as NBC News reports.
The team will start with non-invasive procedures, such as sonar and
magnetometers, before drilling through the silt with a hydroglobe to make
physical contact with the object. Lastly, they will use a suction dredge to
pull off loose sediment. If they're lucky, that will be sufficient to
actually see part of the Lockheed Electra.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

---
VRSS v2.1.180528