How Amelia Earhart Disappeared Into the Skies

Today, Amelia Earhart is remembered for her accomplishments in aviation, her promotion of women's rights and as a pioneer for female pilots. But the famed aviator is also remembered for one of the most confounding mysteries of the 20th century. How did Earhart — one of the most famous pilots in the world — go missing?

Aviator 'Rock Stars'

During the first half of the 20th Century, aviators were the "rock stars" of their day. Flight pioneers such as Charles Lindbergh, Bessie Coleman and Howard Hughes gained large fan followings for their airborne accomplishments.

Amelia Earhart, born in Atchison, Kansas, in 1897, grew up with dreams that seemed unconventional for women at the time. After walking on the roof got her kicked out of finishing school, Earhart fell in love with flying in her early 20s. At 25, she had worked menial jobs to save enough money for her own biplane. Beginning in the late 1920s, Earhart set record after record as she rose to international celebrity status. Her aviation accolades include first woman to fly the Atlantic solo (1932), first woman to fly nonstop coast-to-coast across the United States (1932), and the first person to fly solo across numerous distances, including from Mexico City to Newark, New Jersey (1935).

Around-the-World Plans

In 1936, Earhart began meticulously planning a flight that would make her the first woman to fly around the world. With her navigator Fred Noonan, a sea captain and fellow aviation pioneer, Earhart charted a course that would cover about 27,000 miles. Earhart and Noonan would take off from Oakland, California, before crossing the Pacific by way of Honolulu, Howland Island and Australia. She chose a Lockheed Electra, the most advanced aircraft of its time. The 10-seat plane was remodeled for Earhart's journey, including the replacement of unneeded passenger seats with extra fuel tanks.

After an abandoned first attempt resulted in damage to the plane, Earhart and Noonan changed the route and departed Oakland on May 20, 1937, this time traveling east across the U.S. to Miami before making several stops along the northeast coast of South America. The pair then headed across the Atlantic, Africa, and South Asia before reaching Australia on June 29.

The Disappearance

After one more stop in Lae, Papua New Guinea, Earhart and Noonan set out on July 2 for the most harrowing part of the journey: a 2,500-mile flight across the Pacific Ocean to Howland Island, part of the United States Minor Outlying Islands. The tiny island was only a mile-and-a-half wide, and a number of factors could cause even an experienced aviator such as Earhart to miss it. Earhart typically relied on a compass course and celestial navigation, but for such a long flight over water, she chose to use more sophisticated radio equipment, although neither she nor Noonan knew much about this new type of aviation communication. According to logs from the Coast Guard ship Itasca, which was near Howland Island waiting to assist, Earhart and Noonan flew remarkably close to Howland Island on July 2, but the pair failed to find the island. The Itasca picked up Earhart's radio communications, but Earhart could not hear transmissions from the ship. Earhart's last communication came at 8:43 while the Itasca frantically tried to listen and transmit on every frequency, but her voice was never heard again. The U.S. government searched the Pacific with 10 ships and 65 airplanes but turned up nothing. Noonan was declared dead on June 20, 1938; Earhart was eventually declared dead on Jan. 5, 1939.

The Theories

In the decades since Earhart's disappearance, scientists and researchers have examined several theories of what could have happened to her. A photo from the U.S. National Archives showing blurry figures led to speculation that Earhart and Noonan crashed in the Marshall Islands, where they were captured and held hostage on Saipan Island, where they died. Another theory surmises the pair landed on a reef in the Pacific, but died as castaways. But the most widely held theory is that Earhart and Noonan ran out of fuel and crashed into the Pacific near Howland Island.

New Developments

As the Amelia Earhart disappearance passes its 87th anniversary, hope still exists for this mystery to be solved. In January 2024, Deep Sea Vision, a team of underwater archaeologists and marine robotics experts, discovered an anomaly in the Pacific Ocean about 100 miles from Howland Island. The team recorded a sonar image of an object more than 16,000 feet below the ocean's surface, and they believe it could be a Lockheed 10-E Electra, the type of plane Earhart was flying on her ill-fated around-the-world attempt. Tony Romeo, Deep Sea Vision CEO, said the team plans to revisit the site soon for further investigation. Perhaps the mystery of Amelia Earhart's disappearance can finally be solved.

References: Explorers Say They Think They've Found Amelia Earhart's Long-Lost Plane | Amelia Earhart | Earhart's Around the World Flight Path