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.