Modern Tech Might Have Just Solved Aviation’s Biggest Mystery

For decades, uncertainty has swirled around the disappearance of early aviator Amelia Earhart. She vanished during a daring flight in 1937 and neither her nor the Lockheed 10-E Electra twin-engine aircraft she was piloting were ever seen again.

But a recent mission involving the latest sonar technology might have resulted in a big clue that could answer some of those nagging questions.

A passion project

Former U.S. Air Force intel officer Tony Romeo now serves as the CEO of Deep Space Vision, and he sold off a slate of commercial property in order to secure the roughly $11 million needed to fund his search of the Pacific Ocean floor in an area around where Earhart was believed to have disappeared.

Along with a team of researchers, Romeo found some telltale images that he believes point to the location of the missing aircraft. The area in question can be found at roughly the midpoint between Australia and Hawaii, about 100 miles off the coast of Howland Island.

Earhart and Fred Noonan, who served as her navigator, were scheduled to land on the small island to refuel as she continued her quest to become the first woman to pilot a flight around the world.

Weighing the evidence

More research is needed to conclusively determine whether the object discovered in those images is Earhart’s plane, but Romeo seems confident.

“There’s no other known crashes in the area, and certainly not of that era in that kind of design with the tail that you see clearly in the image,” he explained.

From here, his team is planning to revisit the area to take clearer photos of the site, which will require even more money — but Romeo thinks it’s worth the investment to possibly solve what he called “the great mystery of all time.”

Chris Agee January 30th, 2024

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