Tuesday, August 28, 2007&& Final Approach to Howland Island
Final approach to Howland Island
Through a series of misunderstandings or errors (the details of which are still controversial), the final approach to Howland Island using radio navigation was never accomplished. Some sources have noted Earhart's apparent lack of understanding of her Bendix direction finding loop antenna, which at the time was very new technology.
Another cited cause of possible confusion was that the USCG cutter Itasca and Earhart planned their communication schedule using time systems set a half hour apart (with Earhart using Greenwich Civil Time (GCT) and the Itasca under a Naval time zone designation system). Motion picture evidence from Lae suggests that an antenna mounted underneath the fuselage may have been torn off from the fuel-heavy Electra during taxi or takeoff from Lae's turf runway.
Don Dwiggins, in his biography of Paul Mantz (who assisted Earhart and Noonan in their flight planning), noted that the aviators had cut off their long-wire antenna, due to the annoyance of having to crank it back into the aircraft after each use.
During Earhart and Noonan's approach to Howland Island, the Itasca received strong, relatively clear voice transmissions from Earhart but she apparently was unable to hear transmissions from the ship. Earhart's transmissions seemed to indicate she and Noonan believed they had reached Howland's charted position, which was incorrect by about five nautical miles (10 km). The Itasca used her oil-fired boilers to generate smoke for a period of time but the fliers apparently did not see it. The many scattered clouds in the area around Howland Island have also been cited as a problem: their dark shadows on the ocean surface may have been almost indistinguishable from the island's subdued and very flat profile.
Many search parties sent out and the Istasca made an ultimately unsuccessful search for Earhart, Noonan and the plane, but no physical evidence was recovered. Sources have cited possible reasons for their disappearance. However, no concrete proof or evidence was ever found. There were few clues on where or how they disappeared. The one theory most discussed is that the Electra ran out of fuel and Earhart and Noonan crashed into the sea, despite the fact that the aircraft was not located after two extensive, deep-sea sonar searches in 2002 and again in 2006.
Up till today, no one knows what happened to Amelia Earhart. The mystery of her disappearance remains to this day.
making history.
1:57 AM
