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The last time anyone saw Amelia Earhart was when she took off in her Lockheed 10-E Electra from Papua New Guinea in 1937. Now, a group of explorers at Deep Sea Vision believe they may have found her final resting place near Howland Island.

If true, it would solve one of aviation’s biggest mysteries.

Over the weekend, Deep Sea Vision unveiled its finding of “what appears to be Earhart’s Lockheed 10-E Electra,” which they discovered after searching “more than 5,200 square miles of ocean floor.”

According to The Wall Street Journal, a 16-person Deep Sea Vision crew will begin their hunt for the debris in September 2023 from Tarawa, Kiribati, a port near Howland Island. About 30 days later, the crew captured a sonar image resembling the shape of an aeroplane within 160 kilometres of the island, according to Business Insider.

Although it is unclear whether the picture spotted on sonar is the wreckage of Earhart’s lost aeroplane, Tony Romeo, the pilot and real estate investor who led the search, says he believes the debris could be from the disappeared plane. “There are no other known crashes in the area, and certainly not of that era or that kind of design with the tale that you see in the image.”

The team even shared sonar images of the find on Instagram, and it sure looks like an aeroplane.

 

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A post shared by Deep Sea Vision (@deep.sea.vision)

Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, were last seen taking off from Papua New Guinea on July 2, 1937. The pair planned to refuel at Howland Island before continuing their journey, but never arrived.

Ocean recovery experts are looking for more evidence before they get excited, which Deep Water Vision expects to collect during its next expedition. “Until you physically take a look at this, there’s no way to say for sure what that is,” underwater archaeologist Andrew Pietruszka told reporters.

Romeo, who previously worked as a US Air Force intelligence officer, has spent nearly $11 million (R204 million) on the search for the long-lost wreckage.

“This is maybe the most exciting thing I’ll ever do in my life, I feel like a 10-year-old going on a treasure hunt.”

Finding the wreckage is one thing, but lifting it from the ocean floor is a whole new challenge. Romeo however believes that if this is Amelia’s plane, it needs to be recovered so it can be preserved in the Smithsonian Museum.”That’s where it belongs. Not the bottom of the ocean.”

[source:people]