Is it a plane or a tree? Amelia Earhart expedition aims to solve mystery of disappearance
Researchers will head to remote Pacific atoll, but sceptics say satellite images unlikely to be of her aircraft
TL;DR
- A 17-person US research team is heading to a remote Pacific atoll to investigate a submerged object suspected to be Amelia Earhart's missing aircraft.
- Satellite images and aerial footage show a submerged object in the atoll's lagoon, which researchers believe could be Earhart's Lockheed Model 10-E Electra.
- Other experts, like Tighar's co-founder Ric Gillespie, are skeptical, suggesting the object is a natural formation like a dead pandanus tree.
- The expedition is funded by Purdue University, where Earhart once taught, and builds on previous evidence gathered by groups like Tighar.
- Tighar's theory is that Earhart's plane crash-landed on the atoll, but the wreckage was washed into the sea and is now in deep water, while evidence of a castaway campsite exists on land.