On a mission to solve the mystery of aviator Amelia Earhart’s disappearance, a team of scientists is travelling 830 miles to examine an object they believe could be related to her vanishing.

The group set off on the epic journey to a remote atoll with the hopes of finding the answers to questions that have remained unanswered for 89 years.

Amelia Earhart went missing almost 90 years ago. Credit: Bettman / Getty Images

The team are making a treacherous journey to investigate

Earhart vanished in 1937 while attempting to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the globe.

Nine decades later, researchers from the US-based Archeological Legacy Institute (ALI) and Purdue University are on their way to the remote Nikumaroro Island in the Pacific Ocean to investigate a wreck found by satellite in 2020.

The wreck, now called the Taraia object, which visually resembles an aircraft fuselage and tail, was later confirmed to be seen in photos of the island as far back as 1938.

The scientists are making the journey aboard the Marin Mainiku, a Kiribati National Shipping Line vessel, which will have to navigate a narrow gap in the atoll’s reef.

They left Kiribati’s remote capital on Wednesday, October 7, and are heading towards the tiny remote island of Nikumaroro.

Expedition leader Richard Pettigrew said: “Finding Amelia Earhart’s Electra aircraft would be the discovery of a lifetime.”

Scientists have gone on an epic journey to find Earheart's aircraft. Credit: Bettmann / Getty Images

It is not the first time scientists thought they found the aircraft

While little is known about how Earhart’s aircraft vanished, it is believed her Lockheed Electra 10E plane crashed into the sea when it ran out of fuel. Navigator Fred Noonan was also aboard when she disappeared.

It has long been thought that Earhart and Noonan were killed on impact or were unable to escape the sinking aircraft and drowned.

On arrival, the team of scientists will document the site through photos and videos before using remote sensing techniques, then going underwater to excavate the object in order for it to be examined.

They will also explore the surroundings and nearby islands to search for any debris that may have washed up. Whatever they do find will be returned to the US and Purdue University to be investigated further.

Although this breakthrough seems promising, it is not the first time experts thought they found a part of the missing aircraft, but the discovery in 1991 turned out to be part of a plane that crashed during World War II at least six years after Earhart's disappearance.

On a separate occasion, a team of scientists claimed they had successfully pinpointed the location of the wreckage as nearby Howland Island using a radio restored from 1937.

Featured image credit: Bettmann / Getty Images

A fresh search for Amelia Earhart's aircraft remains is set to launch later this week, almost 90 years after her disappearance.

Back in the 1930s, the Kansas native became one of the world's most accomplished explorers, setting a precedent as the first-ever woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

She also set numerous aviation records while advocating for equal rights for women, before setting herself an impossible goal.

In 1937, she set out to circumnavigate the world, undertaking the 29,000-mile journey with navigator Fred Noonan.

When she set off from New Guinea with the plan of refueling on July 2, 1937, she, Noonan and the plane would vanish.

Nearly 100 years on, there is still no trace of the plane or the remains of those onboard despite the efforts of several search teams.

Amelia Earhart vanished in 1937. Credit: Bettmann / Getty

Search for Amelia Earhart's aircraft underway

Researchers will soon descend upon the island of Nikumaroro in the Pacific Ocean, hoping to finally find the wreckage of Amelia Earhart's plane.

Following their disappearance nearly 100 years ago, a 16-day search was carried out by authorities, but they were officially declared dead in January 1939.

They may be gone, but they haven't been forgotten.

Now, the Archaeological Legacy Institute (ALI), Purdue Research Foundation (PRF), and Purdue University are sending a team of 17 on an expedition to the region to solve the mystery, once and for all.

According to the university, the expedition will involve nearly three weeks of travel, with the group travelling to the island to search for 'a visual anomaly' identified in satellite imagery.

The shape found in Nikumaroro's lagoon is thought to be Earhart's elusive Lockheed Electra 10-E plane.

A team from Purdue University claimed they had located the plane off the coast of the remote island in Kiribati, nearly 1,000 miles from Fiji.

The site is near her intended flight path and the location where four distress calls were traced, providing compelling evidence.

Researcher Michael Ashmore first spotted the object in an Apple Maps image in 2020, despite the image being taken in 2015.

New photos of the area have since been captured.

Amelia Earhart was one of the world's most well-known explorers. Credit: Bettmann / Getty

ALI executive director comments on expedition

Dr. Richard Pettigrew, the executive director who is leading the upcoming trip, spoke more about the upcoming trip, which is set to begin in a few days' time.

In a new release published on Monday (September 28), he wrote: "With just a week to go before the launch of our expedition, my conscious focus is on the execution of our fieldwork plan.

"Inevitably, though, this comes with an array of strong feelings. I’m intensely and eternally grateful to the many individuals and organizations who have helped to make our vision real."

Pettigrew added: "I feel truly lucky to be in a position to possibly solve one of the greatest mysteries of all time, whether or not that happens," the ALI director concluded.

They are expected to land back in Tarawa around October 22 before flying home.

Featured image credit: Bettmann / Getty

An experienced pilot claimed to have found Amelia Earhart's lost plane in the Pacific Ocean, almost 90 years after she went missing.

Amelia Earhart made a name for herself as one of the world's most accomplished explorers in the early 20th century, even becoming the first ever woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

The Kansas native set several impressive aviation records, while also advocating for equal rights for women at the time.

But in 1937, she set out to circumnavigate the world, undertaking the 29,000-mile journey with navigator Fred Noonan.

When she set off from New Guinea for Howland Island with the plan of refueling on July 2, 1937, she, Noonan and the plane would vanish.

They were never seen again despite having the assistance of the US Coast Guard, and nearly 100 years on, there is still no trace of the plane or the remains of those onboard despite the efforts of several search teams.

But now, a pilot claims he has found her plane on Google Earth, of all places.

Amelia Earhart went missing in 1937. Credit: Bettmann / Getty

Pilot reveals Google Earth findings

Justin Myers, a pilot with decades of flying experience, told Popular Mechanics that he believed he found an image of Earhart's lost airplane.

He said that satellite images on Google Earth revealed that there may be something on Nikumaroro Island in the Pacific, as he started to have a look after watching a documentary on her final flight

Myers explained: "To be totally honest, my interest started after watching a documentary on the National Geographic Channel.

"It was the next day when curiosity about Nikumaroro Island took me to looking on Google Earth."

As he first looked at the uninhabited island in the Pacific, he admitted that he wasn't looking for the lost Lockheed Electra 10E in particular.

"I was just putting myself in Amelia and [her navigator] Fred’s shoes," the pilot claimed, adding that he tried to imagine, as a pilot, "where I would have force landed a light twin aircraft in their position, lost and low on fuel."

He then zoomed into an area where he believed they may have tried to land, noticing a "dark-coloured, perfectly straight object" that measured around 39 feet, matching Earhart's plane.

"I used the measuring tool on Google Earth and to my surprise and mild little shiver it measured approximately 39 ft," Myers explained in a blog post.

He told the publication: "It looked man-made, it looked like a section of aircraft fuselage. That was remarkable by itself, let alone the possibility it was Electra 10E NR16020, even though the measurements looked the same."

Amelia Earhart vanished on July 2, 1937, never to be seen again. Credit: Bettmann / Getty

Myers was ignored by agencies

The pilot said that he thought he spotted more plane debris, believing he may have been lucky at first.

He admitted that there was "an element of luck" in finding the first image, explaining: "I managed to catch some photos before being covered over again by passing weather systems."

Numerous agencies were contacted by Myers, but they ignored his claims, with the National Transportation Safety Board explaining that the island wasn’t its jurisdiction.

Myers then filed a report with the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, but they never got back to him.

He also reached out to Purdue University and an expedition company, but he did not hear back from either.

Myers isn't the first to believe that he has found the plane debris, with many being proved wrong before him, but this isn't discouraging his search.

He further highlighted: "The bottom line is, from my interests from a child in vintage aircraft and air crash investigation, I can say that is what was once a 12-metre, 2-engine vintage aircraft."

The pilot acknowledged that it may not be Earhart's aircraft, adding that it may be "the answer to another mystery that has never been answered."

Featured image credit: Bettmann / Getty

It is a mystery that has captivated the world for 88 years, but scientists now believe they have finally found Amelia Earhart’s lost plane.

Amelia Earhart, born in Kansas on July 24, 1897, found her passion for flying in 1920 after taking her first flight as a passenger with veteran pilot Frank Hawks, later saying: “As soon as I left the ground, I knew I had to fly," per Daily Mail.

She worked as a telephone company clerk to pay for her flying lessons, and bought her first plane in 1921.

Just a year later, she became the first woman to fly at 14,000 feet, and in 1932, she made history as the first woman - and second person ever - to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic.

Despite exhaustion, cold, and mechanical failures that nearly ended the flight in disaster, Earhart landed in Northern Ireland, proving her determination and skill.

Later that year, she became the first woman to fly solo nonstop across America, solidifying her place as a trailblazer in aviation.

Earhart’s final journey began with her and navigator Fred Noonan departing Oakland, California, for their round-the-world flight, stopping in Miami, crossing South America, the Atlantic, Africa, India, and South Asia.

On July 2, 1937, they left Lae, Papua New Guinea, aiming to refuel at Howland Island, but somewhere over the Pacific, they lost radio contact and vanished, sparking one of the world’s greatest aviation mysteries.

For 88 years, countless theories emerged about their fate, from crashing into the sea to becoming castaways on a remote island, or even being captured by the Japanese.

Now, scientists believe they have finally found Earhart’s lost plane.

A team from Purdue University claims they have located Earhart’s Lockheed Model 10-E Electra off the coast of Nikumaroro, a remote island in Kiribati nearly 1,000 miles from Fiji.

The site is near her intended flight path and the location where four distress calls were traced, providing compelling evidence.

Their discovery is based on satellite imagery showing a strange object on the ocean floor just feet from the shoreline. Researchers report that the object’s size and composition are an almost exact match for Earhart’s plane.

Richard Pettigrew, executive director of the Archaeological Legacy Institute (ALI), which is joining the mission, 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.”

Among the strongest evidence are radio bearings from Earhart’s distress calls recorded by the US Navy, Coast Guard, and Pan American World Airways, all converging near Nikumaroro.

In 2017, a forensic analysis of bones discovered on the island in 1940 determined the dimensions matched Earhart’s more closely than 99% of the population.

Artifacts found on the island, including a woman’s shoe, a compact case, a jar of freckle cream, and a medicine vial, all date back to the 1930s.

Researchers also point to the Bevington Object, a photographic anomaly captured three months after her disappearance that appears to show part of the Electra’s landing gear on the island’s reef.

The latest clue is a 2020 satellite image showing the object has remained in the same lagoon spot since at least 1938.

ALI joined the investigation after private citizen Michael Ashmore noticed the object in 2015 Apple Maps imagery, prompting the team to collect 26 additional satellite images from 2009 to 2021 and three more from Google Earth between 2022 and 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 mission, named the Taraia Object Expedition, will unfold in three phases: an on-site examination, a full-scale archaeological excavation, and the recovery of 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.”

The mission follows several past attempts, including a 2019 National Geographic-supported expedition by famed explorer Robert Ballard, which found no trace of the aircraft, and a 2017 TIGHAR mission that deployed search dogs detecting the scent of human remains but recovered no physical evidence.

However, current researchers argue these outcomes do not rule out their theory, stating: “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.”

Earhart’s connection to Purdue University adds another layer to the mission, as before her final flight, she was hired by Purdue 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.”

Steve Schultz, Purdue’s general counsel, told NBC News: “We believe we owe it to Amelia and her legacy at Purdue to fulfill her wishes, if possible, to bring the Electra back to Purdue.”

Now, nearly 90 years after she vanished, scientists believe they are closer than ever to solving the mystery of what happened to Earhart.

Featured image credit: Universal History Archive / Getty

Nearly 90 years after Amelia Earhart’s ill-fated disappearance in 1937, one pilot believes he may have cracked the mystery of her lost plane.

Earhart's passion for flying began in 1920 after taking her first flight as a passenger with veteran pilot Frank Hawks.

She worked as a telephone company clerk to pay for her flying lessons and bought her first plane in 1921.

Just a year later, she became the first woman to fly at 14,000 feet, and in 1932, she made history as the first woman, and second person ever, to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic - solidifying her place as a trailblazer in aviation.

Earhart’s final journey began with her and navigator Fred Noonan departing Oakland, California, for their round-the-world flight, stopping in Miami, crossing South America, the Atlantic, Africa, India, and South Asia.

On July 2, 1937, they left Lae, Papua New Guinea, aiming to refuel at Howland Island, but somewhere over the Pacific, they lost radio contact and vanished, sparking one of the world’s greatest aviation mysteries.

For 88 years, many theories emerged about their fate, from crashing into the sea to becoming castaways on a remote island, or even being captured by the Japanese.

Now, a pilot named Justin Myers, with nearly 25 years of experience in the air, is convinced he has discovered the wreckage of Earhart’s Lockheed Electra 10E on a remote Pacific island.

While Earhart’s disappearance has sparked numerous expeditions, Myers’ discovery is unique. Unlike others who have long been obsessed with Earhart's fate, the pilot only began his investigation after watching a documentary about the aviator.

“To be totally honest,” Myers told Popular Mechanics, “my interest started after watching a documentary on the National Geographic Channel. The next day, I started looking at Nikumaroro Island on Google Earth.”

Nikumaroro, a small island in the Pacific, has long been suspected to be the final resting place for Earhart’s plane or, at the very least, the wreckage of the aircraft.

Numerous trips over the years have uncovered artifacts such as improvised tools and pieces of Plexiglas believed to be from the Electra, though no conclusive evidence has ever been found.

For Myers, the breakthrough moment came when he started applying his expertise as a pilot to the aerial images of the island.

“I was just putting myself in Amelia and Fred’s shoes,” he explained. As he studied the Google Earth images, he began to notice an unusual, straight-edged object that seemed to match the dimensions of the Electra’s fuselage.

After measuring the objects, Myers was taken aback by the resemblance to airplane debris. “It looked man-made,” he noted, adding that he even identified what seemed to be a partially exposed radial engine.

The pilot said the measurements and observations all aligned with the size and shape of the Electra 10E that Earhart and Fred Noonan were flying when they disappeared.

While he was excited by his findings, the response he received from aviation authorities was less enthusiastic. He sent his research to the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), but they redirected him to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), leading to a report that, to date, has seen little progress.

Myers also contacted Purdue University, which has been involved in the search for Earhart’s plane, but has not received any response from them.

This lack of follow-up is not entirely surprising, as Myers is far from the only person claiming to have found the missing plane.

Back in 2024, underwater drone images from Tony Romeo's Deep Sea Vision had revealed a structure that appeared to resemble an airplane - only for Romeo to later retract the statement and admit it was a rock formation.

Despite such setbacks, Myers remains confident that what he found on Google Earth is more than just a coincidence.

“I managed to catch some photos before being covered over again by passing weather systems,” Myers explained.

He believes his discovery is not the result of wishful thinking but rather a stroke of luck combined with the right knowledge and technology.

Featured image credit: Universal History Archive / Getty