The mysterious disappearance of Amelia Earhart

“There’s more to life than being a passenger” –Amelia Earhart

 "KHAQQ calling Itasca. We must be on you but cannot see you. Gas is
running low." These were the last words recorded by the legendary aviator
Amelia Earhart. On July 5, 1937, flying the Lockheed model 10-E Electra,
Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared over the central Pacific
Ocean near Howland Island. They both were declared dead after 1 year
and 6 months of their disappearance. Even after 85 years, nobody knows
what happened to Earhart on the 5 th of July, 1937.

Born on 24th July 1897 in Atchison, Kansas, U.S.A. from a young age, she
showed the spirit of adventure. The spirit of becoming a pilot came to her
on 28 December 1920 when she got a ride on an aeroplane by Frank
Hawks. After just 10- minutes of flight, Earhart was determined to learn to
fly. At the age of just 25, she flew an airster at an altitude of 14000 feet,
setting a world record for female pilots. She became the 16 th woman in the
United States to be issued a pilot’s license.

On May 20-21, 1932 Earhart became the first woman to complete a solo
nonstop flight across the Atlantic. Earhart battled exhaustion, a leaky fuel
tank, and a broken manifold that spewed flames out the side of the engine.
In part of the flight, she accumulated on ice on wings, causing it to plummet 3,000 feet to just a few feet above the
waves. She would later fly across Los Angeles to New Jersey becoming the first woman in the United States to fly
from East coast to west. She flew for 19 hours and 5 minutes and a distance of 3,938 kilometres setting another
record. Earhart won the Harmon Trophy and be awarded the U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross.

In early 1936, Earhart started planning a round-the-world flight, her flight would be 47,000 kilometres, and it was
the longest route around the world because it followed an equatorial route. She used a Lockheed Electra 10E which
was built at Lockheed Aircraft Company to her specifications, which was modified to have additional fuel tanks in the
fuselage to carry over 1000 pounds of fuel, rather than the usual 200. Her journey would have started and ended in
California and would have included 20 stops, including San Juan, Calcutta and Bangkok. It was estimated to be 40
days long.

She started her journey with her navigator Fred Noonan from Oakland, California on 21 May 1937. On the morning
of 2 July 1937, 42 days into the journey, they left LAE, New Guinea, they were 36,000 kilometres into the trip and
had about 9,000 kilometres more to go before returning to California. They planned to land on Howland Island, it
was about an 18-hour flight. After leaving LAE, it is said that Earhart might have encountered strong headwinds,
which can affect plane speed, gas consumption and length of the flight. As they neared Howland Island her plane
was likely down to last 97 gallons tanks of fuel, there was a 250-feet boat off the Coast of Howland Island named
Itasca which was to provide communications and weather for Earhart upon her arrival to the island. It is said that
Earhart must have gotten fairly close to the Island because the Itasca heard her transmission, which was getting
stronger as sunrise came and went, in her last transmission, Earhart told the Itasca, “We must be on you, but cannot
see you. Gas is running low.” After that, Earhart was never officially heard from again. When Earhart’s plane never
arrived the Itasca searched the water Northwest of Howland Island, few days later the USS Colorado and aircraft
carrier, Lexington also joined the search. To this day, neither Earhart, Noonan, nor the plane was ever found.

The most widely accepted theory is that Earhart’s plane ran out of gas, she and Noonan died when they crashed into
the ocean although with so much fuel it is said that Earhart’s plane should have lasted for 24 hours, rather than 20
as Earhart’s plane did but putting the encounter with the strong headwinds she would have most probably run out
of fuel before she reached Howland Island, but this theory cannot be fully supported because neither the bodies of
the lost aviators nor the plane was ever found.

In the end, many believe that Earhart simply crashed and died on impact, but still, there’s no way of telling this, until
a plane or a body is discovered, the case of Amelia Earhart will remain Unsolved.

-By Sudhanshu Saxena

11th science