Photo courtesy of NASA on the Commons via Flickr
Legendary pilot Amelia Earhart poses in front of the ill-fated Lockheed Electra plane that DSV believes to have finally discovered
By Sarah Grinnell ’26
Science and Environment Editor
One of history’s most enduring mysteries, mired in speculation and conspiracy, may have just been solved. After 87 years, an underwater research team claims to have potentially discovered famed aviator Amelia Earhart’s long-lost plane at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, BBC News reported.
The story of Amelia Earhart has captivated the world for centuries. According to the official Amelia Earhart website, as the first female pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, Earhart has had immeasurable staying power in cultural memory. This acclaim is due not only to the path she trailblazed for women in aviation but also to the tragic and mysterious end that befell her when she disappeared during an infamous attempted flight around the world.
The nature of Earhart’s disappearance — and the location of her plane — has hitherto been a mystery. According to National Geographic, the dominant theories range from being stranded on one of various speculated islands, to being taken hostage by the Japanese. Now, the expedition footage that underwater research company Deep Sea Vision posted on their Instagram on Jan. 27 could provide closure on the pilot’s fate. In the post, the researchers claim the underwater anomaly “could be the legendary American aviator's Lockheed 10-E Electra.”
The alleged aircraft was discovered using sonar imaging, technology that uses sound waves to map the ocean floor, CNN reported. According to an Instagram post by DSV, the exploration team “scanned more than 5,200 square miles of ocean floor with a 16-person crew and the Kongsberg Discovery HUGIN 6000, the most advanced unmanned underwater drone.”
However, many archaeologists and anthropologists are hesitant to jump to any fast conclusions due to the nature of sonar imagery. For example, since the sound waves are at such a low frequency, the images they produce are very grainy and often distorted by certain light effects, such as reflections, National Geographic explained. As put by Richard Gillespie, founder of the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, in a BBC News article, "Any sonar expert will tell you that one grainy image doesn't tell you anything,” and therefore, more evidence is needed to determine that the anomaly is an aircraft and not just distorted underwater debris.
CNN reported that others have voiced skepticism over the object’s apparent lack of some of the defining features of Earhart’s aircraft, namely its signature twin engines. In a different article by National Geographic, David Jourdan, the co-founder and president of the deep ocean exploration company Nauticos, also expressed that “the proportions aren’t quite right” because the wings are “swept back” as opposed to pointing straight across, as the Electra’s were.
However, Tony Romeo, the founder of DSV, argued that the sweeping effect is likely due to the distortion caused by the autonomous underwater vehicle employed to conduct aquatic survey missions and emphasized that the twin fins on the back of the plane are “very distinctive of her aircraft” as “there’s only a couple of planes that have ever been made like that,” National Geographic reported.
Another point raised in doubt of the discovery is the anomaly’s location roughly 100 miles west of Howland Island. According to CNN, since Earhart’s final radio transmissions grew stronger as she approached this island, it is widely believed by historians that she disappeared as she was nearing it. Therefore, the location of the alleged aircraft wreck would put it off of Earhart’s flight path, as proposed by the Howland theory.
Regardless of differing opinions, experts seem to agree that it is simply too early to definitively identify the object. Dorothy Cochrane, the Aeronautics Department curator at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., expressed that "photographing the object would greatly assist in identifying it further," and while she is currently not convinced by the sonar image alone, she is "encouraged that DSV is searching near Howland Island," which could lead to definitive identification of the plane.
According to National Geographic, DSV plans to return to the site this year, this time with a camera attached to the remotely operated vehicle to photograph the object and conduct a more precise investigation, hopefully confirming what could be a history-altering discovery.