The historic heroine Amelia Earhart left a legacy for not just women, but the world. As many people know, Amelia Earhart was an aviator and innovator, and an icon for some. She was the first female aviator to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, a large milestone in women’s history.
During her time, women were blocked by a barrier; they were not allowed in male-dominated careers. Amelia Earhart was fueled by her confidence, and she broke that barrier. She attempted to do the unthinkable- to be the first female pilot to travel across the globe.
Unfortunately, her life was cut short when she tried to fly from New Guinea to Howland Island to achieve her goal (PBS). Howland Island is located about halfway between Australia and Hawaii. Before she disappeared, she made radio calls reporting that she was low on fuel. Earhart, her navigator Fred Noonan and her plane, Lockheed 10-E Electra, disappeared on this journey in July 1937.
Although she disappeared, her attempt to change history for the world, and for women, left a lasting legacy.
At the beginning of her disappearance, it was questioned whether she and her navigator were dead or somehow alive. Eventually, Earhart and Noonan were declared dead after two years of their disappearance. It has been over 80 years, and still, her disappearance is one of the greatest mysteries in history.
Only recently has the big question found a possible answer.
A new venture, Deep Sea Vision, captured a sonar image during an expedition (NationalGeographic). The sonar image was captured close to the area where Earhart and her navigator Noonan had gone missing. Tony Romeo, the CEO of Deep Sea Vision and a former Air Force Intelligence officer, believes that his team had captured an image of Earhart’s plane. He strongly believes that it is her aircraft given its unique shape that is awfully similar to Earhart’s Lockheed 10-E Electra (NBC).
The CEO of Deep Sea Vision, Tony Romeo states why he believes the aircraft found belongs to Earhart, “There’s no other known crashes in the area, and certainly not of that era in that kind of design with the tail that you see clearly in the image.”
While it is reasonable to think that Earhart’s aircraft may have been found, there are some ideas that question this theory. Some people aren’t buying the fact that the sonar images actually captured Earhart’s plane. There are questions such as how Earhart’s plane could have crashed. It is possible that it may have imploded or at least taken damage because it has been in the ocean for a little more than 80 years. Some also state how it’s not clear what the sonar image actually captured until there is a physical search for it.
According to Reuters, from an interview with Tony Romeo, the CEO of Deep Sea Vision, “The image, he said, appeared to show a distinguishing characteristic of the plane: its twin vertical stabilizers on the tail.”
In order to figure out if Deep Sea Vision’s sonar images actually captured Earhart’s aircraft, it would have to be tested out. There would have to be a physical search in the same area where the sonar images were captured. If this is done, there would be solid proof of whether it is Earhart’s plane or not.
And if these searches were done and Earhart’s plane was found, it would give curious minds and history the closure that was needed. The question of what happened to Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan could finally be answered, after decades of wondering.
