New Guinea - Amelia Earhart & Fred Noonan, en route to Howland Island, 2 July 1937

[nhmemorymaker]

The only thing is, I'm surprised no parts of the plane have ever washed ashore or have surfaced.

@Richard ... Were their any suspected pieces ever come ashore.

 

[Richard]

@Richard ... Were their any suspected pieces ever come ashore.

Not that I know of.

The Electra contained extra fuel tanks, which were running low on fuel by her estimated time of arrival (ETA) at Howland Island. Those tanks being close to empty of fuel would have provided much buoyancy to the plane in the water.

There is almost no doubt that the plane went down as a direct result of the low fuel, and their failure to find Howland. But that doesn't necessarily mean that they flew the plane until the engines quit.

All long range pilots and navigators monitor their fuel status very closely and take necessary steps to seek alternate emergency landing sites.

At a given point, the aviator has to make a decision and carry out a plan. In this case, I would think they decided to seek another island or lagoon to set down on before fuel was exhausted.

A major problem was Amelia's poor communication skills. She should have been broadcasting in the blind her positions, headings, airspeed and intentions.