Latest news with #Nikumaroro
Daily Mail
03-07-2025
- Science
- Daily Mail
Fresh clues in mystery of Amelia Earhart point to plane crash near small island: 'Very strong evidence'
It is a mystery that has captivated the world for 88 years, and now scientists believe they have finally found Amelia Earhart's doomed plane. Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan vanished while attempting to fly around the world on July 2, 1937, sparking decades of failed searches and countless theories. A team from Purdue University claims they have located the Lockheed Model 10-E Electra plane off the coast of a small, remote and inhospitable island lagoon of Nikumaroro in Kiribati, nearly 1,000 miles from Fiji. Their theory is based on satellite imagery showing an unusual object on the ocean floor just feet from the shoreline, combined with artifacts, historical records, human remains and eyewitness testimony. Researchers said the size and composition of the object are an almost exact match for Earhart's plane, and they are planning an expedition to the island this November to investigate further. Nikumaroro also sits near Earhart's intended flight path, and almost exactly where four of her distress calls were traced, providing even more compelling evidence Richard Pettigrew, executive director Archaeological Legacy Institute (ALI), which is joining the hunt, said: 'What we have here is maybe the greatest opportunity ever to finally close the case. 'With such a great amount of very strong evidence, we feel we have no choice but to move forward and hopefully return with proof.' Earhart took to the sky on June 1, 1937, hoping to become the first female aviator to fly around the world. She and Noonan departed from Oakland, California, flew to Miami, continued down to South America, crossed the Atlantic to Africa and then headed east through India and South Asia. A few weeks later, they left Lae in Papua New Guinea with plans to stop on Howland Island on July 2 to refuel. But somewhere over the Pacific, they lost radio contact and were never seen or heard from again. Their disappearance sparked one of the greatest aviation mysteries of all time, leading to countless theories, from crashing at sea to becoming castaways on a remote island, or even being captured by the Japanese. Now, researchers believe they may finally have a lead, an underwater anomaly known as the Taraia Object, and they are building a compelling case. Among the strongest pieces of evidence are radio bearings from Earhart's distress transmissions, recorded by the US Navy, Coast Guard, and Pan American World Airways, which all converge near Nikumaroro. A 2017 forensic analysis of human bones discovered on the island in 1940 found that the dimensions matched Earhart's bone lengths more closely than 99 percent of the population, strongly suggesting they may have belonged to her. Researchers have also cited period-specific artifacts found on the island, including a woman's shoe, a compact case, a jar of freckle cream, and a medicine vial, all dating to the 1930s. Another clue is the Bevington Object, a photographic anomaly captured just three months after Earhart's disappearance that appears to show part of the Electra's landing gear on the Nikumaroro reef. The most recent clue fueling the theory is a 2020 satellite image of the object, showing it has remained in the same spot in the island's lagoon since at least 1938. ALI joined the hunt that same year after a private citizen, Michael Ashmore, noticed the object while studying 2015 Apple Maps imagery of the island. That discovery prompted the team to gather 26 additional satellite images from 2009 to 2021, along with three more from Google Earth covering 2022 through 2024. 'This object in the satellite images is exactly the right size to represent the fuselage and tail of the Electra,' ALI said in a statement. 'It also appears to be very reflective and is likely to be metallic.' The new mission, named the Taraia Object Expedition, will be carried out in three phases over several years. The first phase involves an on-site examination of Nikumaroro, the second will include a full-scale archaeological excavation and the final phase aims to recover the suspected aircraft remains. 'We believe that the result of this Phase-1 field examination will probably be the confirmation that the Taraia Object is indeed the Lockheed Electra aircraft,' the team shared. 'This work, then, is likely to solve one of the greatest mysteries of the 20th century.' This expedition follows several past efforts to crack the case, including a high-profile mission in 2019 by famed ocean explorer Robert Ballard, supported by National Geographic. Ballard conducted a systematic search of the deep waters around Nikumaroro but found no trace of the aircraft. However, current researchers said that outcomes do not rule out their theory. 'The plane ending up in the deep water is not actually a likely scenario, given what we know about the prevailing winds and currents along the northwestern edge of the island,' they explained. In 2017, the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) also investigated the island, deploying search dogs that detected the scent of human remains. But once again, no physical evidence was recovered. Earhart's connection to Purdue University adds another dimension to the search. Before the flight, she was hired by the university to advise women on career opportunities. 'About nine decades ago, Amelia Earhart was recruited to Purdue,' said current Purdue president Mung Chiang. 'The university president later worked with her to prepare an aircraft for her historic flight around the world.' Earhart was born in Atchison, Kansas on July 24, 1897. Her father was a railroad lawyer, but later suffered from alcoholism and the family often struggled for money. They moved often, but Earhart completed high school and then started at the Ogontz School in Pennsylvania. She left junior college early to become a nurse's aide in Toronto after visiting her sister in Canada and deciding to care for soldiers wounded in World War I. After the war, she started a premed program at Columbia but quit when her parents insisted she move back home to live with them in California. That was where she took her first flight in 1920, as a passenger with veteran flyer Frank Hawks. She was immediately entranced, saying: 'As soon as I left the ground, I knew I had to fly.' She started lessons - paying for them through her work as a telephone company clerk, and then bought her first plane in 1921, a Kinner Airster. Earhart set her first record just two years after she flew for the first time and before she even had her official pilot's license. In 1922, she became the first woman to fly at 14,000 feet. Then, in 1928, promoters started looking for a woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean and chose Earhart. As a passenger on Wilmer Stultz and Louis Gordon's plane, she flew from Newfoundland to Wales and became a celebrity overnight. She wrote a book about the adventure and went on a lecture tour across the US. Then in 1932, flying her red Lockheed Vega 5B, she became the first woman - and second person ever - to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic. The flight took 15 hours and she battled tiredness, cold and mechanical issues that nearly ended her flight in disaster as she plummeted 3,000ft on her descent and was forced to carry out an emergency landing in Northern Ireland. It did not put her off, and later that year she became the first woman to fly solo nonstop across America in 19 hours and 5 minutes.
Fox News
03-07-2025
- Science
- Fox News
Researchers zero in on Amelia Earhart's disappearance after 88 years
Researchers are looking for answers and embarking on a special expedition following the 88th anniversary of the disappearance of American aviator Amelia Earhart. The Perdue Research Foundation (PRF, based in Indiana) and Archaeological Legacy Institute (ALI, based in Oregon) announced on Wednesday the "Taraia Object Expedition" project. Researchers will head to the remote island of Nikumaroro, which is halfway between Australia and Hawaii, according to a joint press release from the two agencies. While on the island, researchers will determine whether the "Taraia Object," a visual anomaly captured by a satellite, is actually the remains of Earhart's plane. Earhart is widely known as an aviation trailblazer, becoming the first woman to fly solo across the U.S. nonstop on Aug. 24, 1932. She once worked at Perdue University in Indiana, serving as a career counselor for women and advising the aeronautical engineering department while living in the women's residence hall. In an announcement of the new expedition, Purdue President Mung Chiang shared that "the Boilermaker spirit of exploration lives on." "About nine decades ago, Amelia Earhart was recruited to Purdue, and the university president later worked with her to prepare an aircraft for her historic flight around the world," said Chiang. Richard Pettigrew, ALI executive director, said in the release, "What we have here is maybe the greatest opportunity ever to finally close the case." "With such a great amount of very strong evidence, we feel we have no choice but to move forward and hopefully return with proof," he added. Earhart flew "The Electra," which disappeared on July 2, 1937. "Both Earhart and her husband and manager, George Putnam, expressed their intention to return the Electra to Purdue after her historic flight," said Steven Schultz, senior vice president and general counsel at Purdue. Researchers hypothesize that Earhart did not crash at sea, but instead landed and was stranded on Nikumaroro Island, later perishing there.
Yahoo
02-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Amelia Earhart disappeared 88 years ago, on July 2, 1937. Purdue thinks it knows where.
(This story has been updated with new information.) WEST LAFAYETTE, IN — On the 88th anniversary of Amelia Earhart's disappearance, the Purdue Research Foundation and the Archaeological Legacy Institute (ALI) announced a joint effort to locate the flight pioneer's long lost aircraft. The official search, named the "Taraia Object Expedition," will begin on Nov. 5, PRF said in a news release Wednesday morning ahead of a press conference, when a field team organized by ALI visits the island Nikumaroro, part of the Phoenix Islands in the island nation of Kiribati, by sea. The expedition, the release said, will determine whether a visual anomaly known as the "Taraia Object," seen in satellite and other imagery in the island's lagoon, is what remains of Earhart's Lockheed Electra 10E airplane. Standing directly in front of the hangar Earhart once flew out of at the Purdue University Airport, Richard Pettigrew, ALI's executive director, said the expedition could be the "greatest opportunity ever" to finally close the nearly century-old mystery. "With such a great amount of very strong evidence, we feel we have no choice but to move forward and hopefully return with proof," Pettigrew said. "I look forward to collaborating with Purdue Research Foundation in writing the final chapter in Amelia Earhart's remarkable life story.' Earhart became a visiting professor at Purdue in 1935, and she's one of Purdue's most famous former staff members. A New York Times headline from 1936 proclaimed, "MISS EARHART TO GET 'FLYING LABORATORY'; Purdue Announces $50,000 Fund to Provide a Special Plane for Her Researches." On July 2, 1937, she disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the world. 'About nine decades ago, Amelia Earhart was recruited to Purdue, and the university president later worked with her to prepare an aircraft for her historic flight around the world,' Purdue President Mung Chiang said in the release. 'Today, as a team of experts try again to locate the plane, the Boilermaker spirit of exploration lives on.' Steven Schultz, senior vice president and general counsel of Purdue University, said that in recognition of the foundation's contribution, Earhart and her husband, George Putnam, intended to give the plane to Purdue upon her return, where it would be used to further scientific research in aeronautics. 'Both Earhart and her husband and manager, George Putnam, expressed their intention to return the Electra to Purdue after her historic flight,' Schultz said. 'Based on the evidence, we agree with ALI that this expedition offers the best chance not only to solve perhaps the greatest mystery of the 20th century, but also to fulfill Amelia's wishes and bring the Electra home.' The price tag of the November expedition is estimated at $900K, Schultz said. Of the total, $400K has been raised so far through efforts by ALI, Schultz said, with the remaining $500K being provided by PRF through a line of credit. No Purdue faculty are scheduled to be included on the expedition, Schultz said, but Purdue alumnus Marc Hagle, who became the first married couple alongside his wife, Sharon, in 2022 to embark on a commercial space flight with Blue Origin, has been designated as a special emissary to the exploration. The Electra, which disappeared on July 2, 1937, has never been recovered, but a vast amount of circumstantial evidence has been amassed, the release said, largely by The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGER) over nearly 40 years, supporting the Nikumaroro hypothesis. This idea posits that Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, did not crash at sea but instead landed and were marooned on an uninhabited island and subsequently perished there. The hypothesis, as updated by ALI with new evidence for the Taraia Object, is based on documentary records, photographs and satellite images, physical evidence, and personal testimony, the release said, including these highlights: Radio bearings recorded from radio transmissions at the time by the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Coast Guard and Pan American World Airways, which converge on Nikumaroro A 2017 analysis of human bones discovered on the island in 1940, which determined Earhart's bone lengths were more similar to the discovered bones than 99% of individuals, strongly supporting the conclusion they belong to Earhart Artifacts including a woman's shoe, a compact case, a freckle cream jar and a medicine vial — all dating to the 1930s The Bevington Object, a photographic anomaly captured just three months after the plane's disappearance, which appears to represent one of the Electra landing gear on the Nikumaroro reef The Taraia Object, located in 2020, which has been in the same place in the lagoon since 1938 Schultz said in his more than 12 years as general counsel for the university, Purdue and PRF have been contacted "several" times with claims that the plane had been located, but none had been as strong of a case as ALI's. Some of the evidence that strengthens ALI's case, Schultz said, is evidence of directional bearings from Earhart's radio signals captured at the time. Schultz said Earhart's voice was heard on U.S. mainland over radio signals in the days following her disappearance, which could have been possible only had her plane survived. Pettigrew said it is often misunderstood that Earhart's plane "crash landed," but he said that couldn't have been true. "We're talking about a successful landing on the reef with an intact aircraft," Pettigrew said. "I think it's likely that Amelia was planning to be rescued, refueled, take off again and make it to Hawaii and continue on to California to complete her journey. That was her hope. And for a period of maybe five days, that hope remained alive." But in the days that followed Earhart's landing on the remote island, Pettigrew said, the tide would have risen, causing the airplane, which had been completely depleted of fuel, to be lifted off its landing place. "In this concept, the plane would have been rolled and crashed up against the reef as a consequence of the surf and would have broken up," Pettigrew said. "The outer wings would have come off first, then the engine, the landing gear … And remember, it was full of empty gas tanks, so it would be very buoyant." In early 2024, Deep Sea Vision, a marine robotics company in South Carolina, made headlines when it reported that scans of a blurry sonar image could be the missing Electra plane deep in the Pacific Ocean. Schultz said that claim has since been debunked, and that while Deep Sea Vision's thought-to-be location was deep under water, ALI's location is in very shallow water. Ric Gillespie, an author and expedition leader of 12 searches in the South Pacific for Earhart's plane, said in an interview Wednesday morning for the TODAY Show that he is skeptical of the satellite photos of the proposed site. Gillespie said in the interview his team had previously searched the proposed site, but found nothing, noting it could be a "coconut tree complete with root ball." But Schultz said the university and ALI have strong reasons to believe it's not a tree stuck in the water. With the evidence produced, Schultz said, if Purdue and ALI don't pursue the possibility of finding the long lost Electra plane, then who will? "Purdue is known for calculated risks, and this is a calculated risk," Schultz said. "We feel like we owe it to the legacy to take it." ALI plans to post project updates, beginning soon, on its subscription video platform, Heritage Broadcasting Service, the release said. If the initial expedition proves successful in confirming the identity of the aircraft, PRF and ALI plan to return for larger excavation efforts in 2026 to uncover and help return what remains of Earhart's plane. Schultz said at this time, no money has been set aside for if the plane is found and returned to the university. If the plane is found through this expedition, Schultz said, Purdue has the strongest equitable claim to the remains of the Electra. "That's based on the clear intent, the donated intent, of Amelia and her husband to bring the plane back to Purdue, and the fact that we facilitated it," Schultz said. "Obviously there are a lot of stakeholders now involved in this, not the least of which is Rick and Ali, but also the people of the Republic of Kiribati, and their views on this matter is very important." Jillian Ellison is a reporter for the Journal & Courier. She can be reached via email at jellison@ This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Purdue Research Foundation says it plans to locate Amelia Earhart's plane
Yahoo
02-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
‘Maybe the greatest opportunity ever': Researchers announce new expedition to locate Amelia Earhart's lost plane
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WGN) — Nearly 90 years after Amelia Earhart mysteriously disappeared while attempting to circumnavigate the globe, researchers have announced a new expedition to locate the aviation pioneer's lost aircraft. On Wednesday, (PRF) and (ALI) announced 'the Taraia Object Expedition,' a joint effort to locate Earhart's lost aircraft. According to the PRF, the expedition is expected to get underway in November of 2025 and will begin with a visit to the site of the visual anomaly known as the 'Taraia Object,' which researchers believe may possibly be the remains of the Lockheed Model 10E Electra, also known as the the 'flying laboratory,' flown by Earhart and Fred Noonan during their 1937 journey. 'What we have here is maybe the greatest opportunity ever to finally close the case,' ALI executive director Richard Pettigrew said. 'With such a great amount of very strong evidence, we feel we have no choice but to move forward and hopefully return with proof. I look forward to collaborating with Purdue Research Foundation in writing the final chapter in Amelia Earhart's remarkable life story.' Read more: Latest Chicago news and headlines The 'Taraia Object' is the commonly used name for a visual anomaly spotted in the lagoon of Nikumaroro Island in the South Pacific Ocean. Researchers first became aware of the Taraia Object in 2020 after it was spotted in an Apple Maps satellite image. After learning about it, researchers began studying satellite images taken between 2009 and 2021 and discovered that the object first became visible in satellite images around April 27, 2015, shortly after Tropical Cyclone Pam passed by the island. According to researchers, a vast amount of circumstantial evidence amassed largely by the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery supports the 'Nikumaroro' hypothesis, which posits that Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, did not crash at sea but instead landed on an uninhabited island where they were marooned. Additional evidence that supports this hypothesis includes radio bearings that were recorded from radio transmissions at the time by the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Coast Guard and Pan American World Airways, which converge on Nikumaroro; artifacts dating to the 1930s that were found on the island, like a woman's shoe, a compact case, a freckle cream jar and a medicine vial; A 2017 analysis of human bones discovered on the island in 1940, which determined Earhart's bone lengths were more similar to the discovered bones than 99% of individuals; the Bevington Object, a photographic anomaly captured shortly after the plane's disappearance, which appears to represent a piece of the plane's landing gear on the Nikumaroro reef. The historic expedition is set to embark from Majuro in the Marshall Islands on Nov. 5. Crews will spend five days on Nikumaroro to inspect the Taraia Object, before returning to port on Nov. 21. If it is successful in confirming the identity of the aircraft, the PRF and ALI will return to Nikumaroro for larger excavation efforts in 2026 to uncover and help return what remains of Earhart's plane. LATEST CASES: Missing people in Chicagoland Purdue's role in the expedition highlights the contributions Earhart made to the university. Earhart had begun working for the university after Purdue President Edward Elliott became concerned that the women enrolled at the university were not completing their educations. He later hired her to serve as a counselor on careers for women, advise Purdue's aeronautical engineering department and allow her to enjoy access to the resources of Purdue's new airport. The PRF later funded Earhart's 'flying laboratory,' Lockheed Electra 10E airplane, through the Amelia Earhart Fund for Aeronautical Research. Upon her return, Earhart had intended to give the plane to Purdue for research, but it never made it home and now researchers are looking for a conclusion to the nearly century-long story. 'Both Earhart and her husband and manager, George Putnam, expressed their intention to return the Electra to Purdue after her historic flight,' senior vice president and general counsel of Purdue University, Steven Schultz, said. 'Based on the evidence, we agree with ALI that this expedition offers the best chance not only to solve perhaps the greatest mystery of the 20th century, but also to fulfill Amelia's wishes and bring the Electra home.' ALI's subscription video platform, , will be used to share updates on the project. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
02-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
A Mysterious Anomaly May Be Amelia Earhart's Plane. This Team Is Racing to Prove It.
Here's what you'll learn when you read this story: Purdue University announced a plan to locate Amelia Earhart's lost aircraft. Dubbed the Taraia Object Expedition, the effort will include a field team visiting the Pacific island Nikumaroro in November 2025. The goal is to 'close the case' on Amelia Earhart's disappearance on July 2, 1937. This story is a collaboration with Exactly 88 years after Amelia Earhart vanished over the Pacific Ocean, Purdue University—which helped fund her historic attempt to fly around the world—has announced it will lead a new effort to solve aviation's greatest mystery. The university has detailed plans to search a remote island where many believe Earhart's plane may have crashed on July 2, 1937. In November 2025, a field team from the Purdue Research Foundation and Archaeological Legacy Institute (ALL) will head to the island of Nikumaroro to confirm whether the long-debated Taraia Object, an anomaly at the site halfway between Australia and Hawaii, really is the Lockheed Electra 10E plane once piloted by Earhart. 'With such a great amount of very strong evidence, we feel we have no choice but to move forward and hopefully return with proof,' Richard Pettigrew, ALI's executive director, said in a statement. 'I look forward to collaborating with Purdue Research Foundation in writing the final chapter in Amelia Earhart's remarkable life story.' Get the Issue Get the Issue Get the Issue Get the Issue Get the Issue Get the Issue Get the IssueGet the Issue Get the Issue This latest effort joins a long list of attempts to finally solve the Earhart mystery. According to Pettigrew, the Taraia Object hypothesis draws on a mix of documentary records, photographs, satellite imagery, physical evidence, and eyewitness accounts. Several key pieces of evidence are driving the latest push. These include: Radio bearings recorded form radio transmissions at the time by the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Coast Guard, and Pan American World Airways, which converge on Nikumaroro A 2017 analysis of human bones discovered on the island in 1940, which determined Earhart's bone lengths were more similar to the discovered bones than 99 percent of individuals Artifacts of a women's shoe, a compact case, a freckle cream jar, and a medicine vial, all dating to the 1930s A photographic anomaly—called the Bevington Object—captured three months after the plane's disappearance that resembles Electra landing gear on the Nikumaroro reef And the Taraia Object itself, located in 2020, which has been in the same place in the lagoon since 1938. The theory suggests that Earhart didn't crash into the ocean, but instead landed on the uninhabited island—where she was stranded and eventually died. The new expedition plans to leave the Marshall Islands on November 5 and spend five days on Nikumaroro inspecting the Taraia Object. If successful, the team expects to later excavate Earhart's lost plane. Edward Elliott, who was Purdue's president from 1922 to 1945, brought Amelia Earhart to campus as a career counselor for women, and had her live in the women's residence hall for part of each semester. During her time at Purdue, Earhart also advised the aeronautical engineering department and used the university's new airport, which was the only one of its kind at a U.S. college or university at the time. 'About nine decades ago Amelia Earhart was recruited to Purdue, and the university president later worked with her to prepare an aircraft for her historic flight around the world,' Mung Chiang, Purdue's current president, said in a statement. 'Today, as a team of experts try again to locate the plane, the Boilermaker spirit of exploration lives on.' Purdue played a pivotal role in helping Earhart attempt to circumnavigate the globe with navigator Fred Noonan. The university helped fund her Lockheed Electra 10E through the Amelia Earhart Fund for Aeronautical Research, with Purdue trustee David Ross leading the effort alongside major contributors like J.K. Lilly, Vincent Bendix, Western Electric, and the Goodrich and Goodyear companies. As a thank you for the support, Earhart planned to donate the plane to Purdue upon her return, hoping it would help further scientific research in aeronautics. Earhart's connection to Purdue has continued long after her disappearance. Most recently, in 2024, construction began on the roughly 10,000-square-foot Amelia Earhart Terminal at Purdue University Airport. 'Both Earhart and her husband and manager, George Putnam, expressed their intention to return the Electra to Purdue after her historic flight,' Steven Schulz, senior vice president and general counsel of Purdue University, said in a statement. 'Based on the evidence, we agree with ALI that this expedition offers the best chance not only to solve perhaps the greatest mystery of the 20th century, but also to fulfill Amelia's wishes and bring the Electra home.' Finding Earhart's plane won't be easy, especially since others have searched the site many times before. Ric Gillespie, executive director of the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) has traveled for a dozen on-site searches for over three decades. While he agrees Nikumaroro is likely where Earhart landed before passing, he told NBC that he's come up empty plenty of times before. 'We've looked there in that spot, and there's nothing there,' he said about the Purdue effort. 'I understand the desire to find a piece of Amelia Earhart's airplane. God knows we've tried. But the data, the facts, do not support the hypothesis. It's as simple as that.' Pettigrew, who has worked on searching for Earhart's plane for years, said objects continually shift in and out of sand coverage. Gillespie said a plane wouldn't get covered by sand, but would have gotten buried with coral. As highlights, the mysterious final flight of Amelia Earhart captured the world's imagination in 1937, just as it continues to today. Earhart and Noonan were six weeks and 20,000 miles into their global journey when they failed to make their scheduled landing at Howland Island, located approximately 1,700 miles southwest of Honolulu. The 2.5-square-mile island proved difficult for Earhart's plane to find amidst the vast ocean. There's no concrete evidence that points to why the plane never made it to the island, or where it went instead. The absence of definitive proof has given rise to a multitude of theories about the fate of Earhart, Noonan, and their plane. The most widely accepted theory suggests that Earhart and Noonan simply crashed into the ocean and sank after running out of fuel. Another credible theory posits that the duo landed on the in-question coral reef around Gardner Island, now called Nikumaroro Island, located 350 nautical miles southeast of Howland. Earhart, a Kansas native, began her ascent to fame in 1922 when she piloted her bright yellow Kinner Airster biplane, 'The Canary,' to a then-record height of 14,000 feet for female aviators. By 1923, Earhart had earned her pilot's license, becoming the 16th woman to do so from the Federation Aeronautique. While financial struggles forced her out of flying, she returned to aviation in 1927. Then residing in Massachusetts, Earhart jumped at the opportunity to be the first woman to partake in a transatlantic flight. Although just a passenger on the 1928 adventure led by pilot Wilmer 'Bill' Stultz, her subsequent book chronicling the experience catapulted her into the spotlight. Following her initial fame, Earhart embarked on her own pioneering flights. In 1932, she made history as the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, navigating a nearly 15-hour journey from Newfoundland to Northern Ireland. She continued to add a series of impressive flights to her global résumé, all culminating in what was to be her most monumental flight of all: an ambitious bid to be the first person, period, to circumnavigate the globe along the equator. Now, almost 100 years after Earhart first took to the skies, the search to solve the mystery of her final flight on July 2, 1937, isn't just about locating a lost aircraft. It's about honoring a legacy that shaped modern aviation. 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