WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WISH) — The countdown is on for a Purdue University-backed expedition that might assist remedy one in all aviation’s best mysteries: The 1937 disappearance of trailblazing pilot Amelia Earhart.
In 30 days, Purdue and the Purdue Research Foundation will be part of the Archaeological Legacy Institute on a three-week mission to the South Pacific. The crew will examine a plane-like object noticed within the lagoon of Nikumaroro Island, a distant coral atoll lengthy suspected as Earhart’s closing touchdown web site.
Three Purdue representatives might be a part of the 15-person crew: Alumni Sirisha Bandla and Marc Hagle, each members of the college’s famed “Cradle of Astronauts,” and Steve Schultz, Purdue’s senior vice chairman and common counsel.
Expedition members will collect on Oct. 30 at Purdue’s Amelia Earhart Terminal earlier than departing for the Marshall Islands. From there, they’ll journey greater than 1,200 nautical miles by sea to Nikumaroro, arriving on Nov. 4.
The search will concentrate on what’s referred to as the “Taraia Object,” first recognized in 2020 satellite tv for pc photos, however seen way back to 1938 in aerial pictures. Researchers will accumulate video and sonar information earlier than making an attempt underwater excavation to find out if the particles is Earhart’s Lockheed Electra 10E.
“Discovering Amelia Earhart’s Electra plane could be the invention of a lifetime,” mentioned Richard Pettigrew, ALI’s government director. “Confirming the wreckage there could be the smoking-gun proof.”
Earhart, who joined Purdue in 1935 as a profession counselor and advisor in aeronautics, stays one of many college’s most enduring figures. Purdue initially helped fund her Lockheed Electra via its Amelia Earhart Fund for Aeronautical Analysis, and her legacy is honored immediately via campus applications and the newly opened Amelia Earhart Terminal on the college airport.
Schultz mentioned the crew feels a accountability to deliver Earhart’s story full circle.
“A profitable identification could be step one towards fulfilling Amelia’s unique plan to return the Electra to West Lafayette,” Schultz mentioned.
The expedition is anticipated to return Nov. 21. Purdue may even launch a four-part podcast collection, Discovering Amelia, starting Oct. 20 to spotlight Earhart’s connection to the college and the upcoming search.
Earhart vanished on July 2, 1937, whereas making an attempt to circumnavigate the globe with navigator Fred Noonan. Nikumaroro, situated about 400 miles southeast of their meant cease on Howland Island, has remained on the middle of hypothesis for many years.
“Not solely are we working to resolve one in all aviation’s best mysteries,” Bandla mentioned, “however we’re honoring a trailblazing lady whose braveness impressed generations to take flight.”
