Researchers announce new effort to find Amelia Earhart's plane

Researchers on Wednesday announced a new expedition to find ​​Amelia Earhart’s plane, based on evidence that suggests the famed aviator may have crash-landed on a remote island in the South Pacific.

Researchers on Wednesday announced a new expedition to find ​​Amelia Earhart’s plane, based on evidence that suggests the famed aviator may have crash-landed on a remote island in the South Pacific.

A satellite photo may appear to show the remains of Earhart’s plane peeking through the sand on the small, remote and inhospitable island lagoon of Nikumaroro in Kiribati, nearly 1,000 miles from Fiji, according to Richard Pettigrew, the executive director of the nonprofit Archaeological Legacy Institute in Oregon.

In one of the world’s most intriguing mysteries, Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan vanished while attempting to fly around the world exactly 88 years ago on July 2, 1937.

Taraia Object alongside Electra fuselage and tail.Archaeological Legacy Institute 2025Now, Purdue University — which had employed Earhart and helped fund her historic flight — said it will send a team to Nikumaroro in November in hopes of digging up her Lockheed Electra 10E aircraft and returning what’s left of it.

“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,” Steve Schultz, Purdue’s general counsel, said.