{"id":17513,"date":"2025-10-01T08:38:26","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T12:38:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/?p=17513"},"modified":"2025-10-27T09:16:39","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T13:16:39","slug":"one-month-out-countdown-to-the-search-for-amelia-earharts-plane-begins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/Q4\/one-month-out-countdown-to-the-search-for-amelia-earharts-plane-begins","title":{"rendered":"1 month out: Countdown to the search for Amelia Earhart\u2019s plane begins\u202f"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Oct. 27: This story has been updated.
https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/Q4\/expedition-to-search-for-amelia-earharts-plane-postponed-to-2026\/<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. \u2014 In 30 days, Purdue University and Purdue Research Foundation will join an Archaeological Legacy Institute (ALI) expedition to the South Pacific attempting to solve the disappearance of Amelia Earhart during her mission to become the first woman to fly around the world at the equator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Announced July 2<\/a>, 88 years to the day that Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan mysteriously disappeared, the expedition will include three weeks of travel to determine if a visual anomaly in a lagoon of Nikumaroro Island is Earhart\u2019s missing Lockheed Electra 10-E.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Some members of the expedition will fly out of the Amelia Earhart Terminal at the Purdue University Airport on Oct. 30 and will rendezvous with other team members on Majuro in the Marshall Islands. The entire expedition will depart Majuro by sea Nov. 4, sail approximately 1,200 nautical miles to Nikumaroro and then spend several days on the small island in the search effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three Purdue representatives will be part of the 15-person crew: Sirisha Bandla and Marc Hagle, both alumni and members of Purdue\u2019s Cradle of Astronauts, along with Steve Schultz, senior vice president and general counsel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Work on Nikumaroro will focus on inspecting the Taraia Object, first noticed in satellite imagery in 2020 and later confirmed to be visible on aerial photos taken of the island\u2019s lagoon as far back as 1938.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Initial work will include videos and still images of the site prior to any disturbance, followed by remote sensing with magnetometers and sonar. Then the team will employ underwater excavation using a hydraulic dredge to expose the object for identification. Fieldwork will include a walk-over survey of nearby land surfaces to search for debris washed up by waves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The expedition is scheduled to return to port in Majuro around Nov. 21 and fly home the following day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Richard Pettigrew, executive director of ALI, is part of the expedition team traveling to Nikumaroro. He said the mission offers more than just the opportunity to solve one of the greatest mysteries of the 20th century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFinding Amelia Earhart\u2019s Electra aircraft would be the discovery of a lifetime,\u201d he said. \u201cOther evidence already collected by The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery establishes an extremely persuasive, multifaceted case that the final destination for Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, was on Nikumaroro. Confirming the plane wreckage there would be the smoking-gun proof.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Members
Purdue University and Archaeological Legacy Institute (ALI) members of the Amelia Earhart expedition team traveling to Nikumaroro Island recently visited The Museum of Flight in Seattle to view a replica of a Lockheed Electra 10-E, the type of plane Earhart was piloting in her bid to fly around the world. Seated next to a statue of Earhart are (left) Richard Pettigrew, ALI executive director, and Sirisha Bandla, field assistant and Purdue alumna. Back row (left to right): Ren LaRocca, ALI assistant; Aaron Arrants, medic; Michael Krivor, RECON Offshore maritime archaeologist; Helmut Schleppi, filmmaker; Steve Schultz, field assistant and Purdue senior vice president and general counsel; Tom Reitter, ALI filmmaker; and Ella Van Cleave, filmmaker. (Purdue University photo\/Becky Robi\u00f1os)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Purdue Research Foundation originally funded the \u201cFlying Laboratory\u201d Lockheed Electra 10-E airplane through the Amelia Earhart Fund for Aeronautical Research as part of Purdue\u2019s pioneering efforts in aviation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA successful identification would be the first step toward fulfilling Amelia\u2019s original plan to return the Electra to West Lafayette after her historic flight,\u201d Schultz said. \u201cAdditional work would still be needed to accomplish that objective, but we feel we owe it to her legacy, which remains so strong at Purdue, to try to find a way to bring it home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Sept. 26, the Taraia Object expedition team convened at Seattle\u2019s Museum of Flight to photograph and view a Lockheed Electra 10-E \u2014 identical to Earhart\u2019s aircraft. Several Purdue students joined the gathering to share insights on Purdue\u2019s aviation legacy and Earhart\u2019s enduring connection to the university.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earhart began her attempt to circumnavigate the globe and set a record for long-distance flight in late May 1937, flying out of Oakland, California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Oct. 20, \u201cThis Is Purdue,\u201d the university\u2019s official podcast, will release a four-part miniseries called \u201cFinding Amelia.\u201d The storytelling centers around the decades-long connection between the legendary aviator and Purdue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The miniseries digs into who Amelia was and her journey to the university, the \u201cFlying Laboratory\u201d plane she was flying when she disappeared, the Amelia Earhart Collection within Purdue University Archives and Special Collections, and the upcoming Taraia Object expedition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You will be able to listen at purdue.edu\/podcast<\/a> or wherever you get your podcasts, and you can watch these episodes on YouTube<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earhart, already an aviation legend in the 1930s, came to Purdue in 1935 and worked for two years as a women\u2019s career counselor and advisor in the university\u2019s aeronautics department. The recently opened Amelia Earhart Terminal at Purdue Airport honors her legacy as a valued Boilermaker. She is also remembered across campus through facilities, programs and clubs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nikumaroro is located halfway between Australia and Hawaii and lies close to 400 miles southeast of Howland Island, the planned destination of Earhart and Noonan on the third-to-last leg of their 1937 attempt to circumnavigate the world around the equator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPurdue has never been shy to take compelling ideas off paper; in fact they encourage it. It\u2019s why I\u2019m not only proud to be an alumna but continue to be actively engaged in the community,\u201d Bandla said. \u201cI cannot express how meaningful it is to be a part of this expedition. Not only are we working to solve one of aviation\u2019s greatest mysteries, but it is centered around a trailblazing woman who dared to blaze her own path \u2014 to take the first step \u2014 so that other women were inspired to take flight as well.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

About Archaeological Legacy Institute<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Archaeological Legacy Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Eugene, Oregon, and organized to share the human cultural heritage widely through the use of cutting-edge media technology. ALI\u2019s core project is The Archaeology Channel (http:\/\/www.archaeologychannel.org<\/a>), a free streaming-media website featuring video and audio programs on archaeology, indigenous peoples and cultural heritage. This combines with news site Archaeologica.org, the social media site ArchaeoSeek.com<\/a>, and subscription video-on-demand platform Heritage Broadcasting Service (heritagetac.org<\/a>) to form a unique constellation of online services and resources for those keen to learn about and enjoy cultural-heritage information, events, programming, and discussions. Through TAC Tours, ALI also organizes in-person group visits to significant cultural heritage sites worldwide, which have included Stonehenge, Machu Picchu, Chich\u00e9n Itz\u00e1, Uxmal, Newgrange, Persepolis, Carnac, the Ness of Brodgar, the Malta prehistoric temples, and many others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About Purdue University and Purdue Research Foundation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Purdue University is a public research university leading with excellence at scale, and the Purdue Research Foundation (PRF) is a private nonprofit operating as a separate entity to advance the university\u2019s mission. Purdue is committed to affordability and accessibility with more than 106,000 students studying at Purdue across multiple campuses, locations and modalities. PRF operates Purdue Innovates, including the Office of Technology Commercialization, Incubator and Ventures, as well as managing Purdue Research Park, Discovery Park District, Purdue Technology Centers and the Purdue for Life Foundation. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap at https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/president\/strategic-initiatives<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\n Media requests:<\/strong> ameliamedia@purdue.edu<\/a> <\/p>\n <\/div>\n

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Note to journalists:<\/p>\n

\n Additional photos and video are available in the media kit<\/a>. <\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oct. 27: This story has been updated.https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/Q4\/expedition-to-search-for-amelia-earharts-plane-postponed-to-2026\/ WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. \u2014 In 30 days, Purdue University and Purdue Research Foundation will join an Archaeological Legacy Institute (ALI) expedition to the South Pacific attempting to solve the disappearance of Amelia Earhart<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":17510,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"department":[],"source":[29],"purdue_today_topic":[],"coauthors":[40],"class_list":["post-17513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","source-purdue-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17513"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17513\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18080,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17513\/revisions\/18080"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17513"},{"taxonomy":"department","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/department?post=17513"},{"taxonomy":"source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/source?post=17513"},{"taxonomy":"purdue_today_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/purdue_today_topic?post=17513"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=17513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}